“Discovering Aviation” took center stage when the New Jersey Wing’s Twin Pine Composite Squadron hosted 45 sixth- through 12th-graders and 15 adults from the Girl Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey.
The Twin Pine leadership education officer, 2nd Lt. Lucy Couvertier, teamed with Tanya Toth, Girl Experience coordinator for the Scouts, to arrange for the evening to show the guests what a weekly squadron meeting looks like as well as to place aviation in the spotlight,
The cadet-led aerospace education activities, starting with a squadron-wide classroom session, involved requirements for the Girl Scouts Aviation Merit Badge.
Cadet Staff Sgt. Harasees Singh and Mary Lancellotti, Twin Pine aerospace education officer, combined for a class teaching the basic parts of an aircraft. With cadet assistance, the Scouts made paper glider paper planes for later use upstairs, where a variety of aviation stations were set up for the visitors.
One station featured a flight simulator, overseen by Maj. Robert McClellan, New Jersey Wing Group 223 commander, along with adult member Angel Peña and Cadet 1st Lt. Kieran Ward.
Second Lt. Babu Venkatakrishnan, adult member Pradeep Kaur, and Cadet Chief Master Sgts. Gabriella Couvertier and Siddhant Upadhyay provided direction at the glider-making station.
The Scouts then attempted to fly their gliders through a hula hoop target while coping with fans blowing wind in the paper planes’ path.
Overseeing that activity were Christian Bixby, Jithendra Kishorilal, Cadet Staff Sgt. Shreya Thakkar, and Cadet Senior Airman Yaana Agrawal.
Another station involving paper planes and a hula hoop was led by Sukhvinder Singh, Dilmeet Kaur and Cadet Tech. Ajitesh Phull.
The final station, operated by Mehul Thakkar and Cadets 1st Lts. Ishaan Agarwal and Justin Peña, challenged the Scouts to fly drones through obstacles.
“The whole experience has been amazing as a Girl Scout troop leader,” Chaitra Arni said.
“It has been a great opportunity for our Scouts to experience, to learn leadership and discipline through aerospace technology.”
The Scouts and their leaders weren’t alone in enjoying the activity.
“I loved getting to meet new people through this experience,” Agrawal said, “Getting to introduce Girl Scouts to aerospace, we got to introduce them to the cadet life, and hopefully they walked away with fun memories.”
“I enjoyed watching people try multiple times and learn from their experiences,” Thakkar said. “It was interesting to see the Girl Scouts grow and learn so much while having fun in these activities.”
Although cadets had fun at this event they learned important skills such as teamwork, collaboration, and the importance of working together.
The evening also allowed the cadets to hone such important skills as teamwork and collaboration, as “the staff and cadets worked together to create a fruitful event that everyone enjoyed,” cadet Singh added._____Cadet Staff Sgt. SriSowmya Tanguturi Twin Pine Composite SquadronNew Jersey Wing
