Valley View students' education takes off

By Ethan Smith

Leader Staff

When Valley View students look back and see what they accomplished this year, they’ll be looking at the entire Mission Valley — literally.

Students in teacher Joe Wing’s class will be able to look out across the valley from inside an airplane next Friday, June 1, their reward for reading books for the Flight for Reading program.

While Valley View students have to read every night as part of their required curriculum, they are given additional reading — and the promise of a local flight — as an incentive to read more than their required school work.

“They had to read a certain number of hours, on top of the requirement they have to read for the year. They have a nightly reading commitment, and then they have to read more to earn the flight,” Wing said.

Last week, pilots Art Lindstrom, Bob Snyder, Trey Moran, Tim Moran, Robert “Hawkeye” Hughes, Glenn Timm, Lee Lytton, Joe Walchuk, and Mauri Morin all stopped in to talk to the students about their love of flying, all part of the Flight for Reading program.

Each pilot shared his military and/or civilian flying career, and talked to students about how they came to love being a pilot. They also talked about the work they put in to get their pilot’s license, and how glad they were when they earned it.

“One of the guys got up and said he used to work at the mill, and watch guys fly over everyday. He said ‘Wow, that looks like a lot of fun.’ He emphasized to the students that you don’t have to get your pilot’s license when you are young,” Wing said.

After presentations from each pilot, the students filed out into the fields near the small rural school, where they got a brief tutorial on several small airplanes, and Walchuck’s helicopter, which is part of the Red Eagle Aviation company. Several of the pilots had landed their planes nearby, using the open fields.

The planes, and pep talks by the pilots, made an impression on the students in Wings’ class.

“It was interesting to hear them talk about their experiences. I had the students write the next day about what their favorite part was, and a lot of them just wrote about how it is possible to become a pilot,” Wing said. “An average Joe can learn to fly - you don’t need to be a millionaire. That really hit home to the students.”

Wing also used it as a teaching tool, to instruct students on basic aeronautics, physics and science.

“We integrated it into a reading, math and science unit. We spent a lot of time talking about the force of flight, and why something flies or doesn’t fly. The kids got a real brief ‘ground school’ so they could participate in their flight on June 1st,” he said.

All of his students qualified for the free flight next week, which is paid for out of the pilots’ pockets. The students who earned their flights next week included Taelor Conrad, Bridger Fitzpatrick, Grey Fitzpatrick, Trevar McAllister, Jesse Melton, Liam Schoening, Eli Torgenrud, Devin Walker, Wyatt Lytton, Payton Fitzpatrick, Timmy Fitzpatrick, and Shawna Tempero, all fourth, fifth or sixth graders in Wing’s class.