| LINK Newsletter - December 2007
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Mapping Twinkies: Airborne 1 Hosts School Visit
During the last Miss Teen USA pageant, an audience member asked Miss South Carolina, “Why can’t so many Americans identify the United States on a map?” Although her garbled, confusing response drew a storm of negative criticism, one positive result of the incident was the attention it drew to the alarming lack of geography knowledge among our nation’s schoolchildren.
On November 7, 2007, the staff of Airborne 1 did their part to combat this problem by hosting a group of fourth graders from Westland School in Los Angeles, CA to teach them a thing or two about maps and have some fun in the process.
“With technologies like Google Earth and the growth of Internet-based mapping services, geography will play a big part in these kids’ lives,” said Jeff Wilson, a Westland School parent and board member of Airborne 1.
For the third year in a row, Airborne 1 staff used innovative, entertaining techniques to teach their young guests about coordinate systems and projections, and distance and scale. CEO Todd Stennett showed the students how to use wrist watches as a compass. Jeff Weinberger used string to demonstrate how to scale distance from a globe or map. The students then doublechecked their estimations using more high-tech methods like Google Earth.
Eric Albrecht used Twinkies to demonstrate how cartographers show topography when creating maps. As one curly haired boy put it, “You guys made maps fun. And I got to eat the Twinkie!”
The day closed with a treasure hunt that required the students to use a map and apply skills they had learned. “Maps have become an integral part of modern life. If these kids aren’t making the maps of the future, they will certainly be using them,” said Airborne 1 CEO Todd Stennett. “We are pleased to see geography maintain itself as a required part of school curriculums; that we get to give back to the community and be part of the learning process is just a bonus.”
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Airborne 1 V.P. Randy Rhoads gives Westland School visitors a pop geography quiz
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Jeff Weinberger teaches students how to use Google Earth
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