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CAP is Parkland Middle School's "Partner of the Month"

Gus McLeod speaks to several middle school students
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Gus McLeod, aerospace adventurer and Civil Air Patrol member, speaks with several students from the Parkland Magnet Middle School following a special assembly during Civil Air Patrol's "Partner of the Month" program.

Maryland Wing's middle school squadron participates in special activities

By Lt. Col. John Knowles
Maryland Wing Vice Commander

1/7/2008–Rockville, MD–One of the newest squadrons in Maryland Wing is the middle school squadron at Parkland Aerospace Magnet Middle School (MD-801) in Rockville, Md. The squadron was chartered in 2006 and students meet after school on Wednesdays. SM Donna Blaney, the Magnet School Coordinator for Parkland, and SM John Ernst, the aerospace education studies instructor at Parkland work with cadets and officers from the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Composite Squadron and Maryland Wing Headquarters to support the students in the after school program.

Parkland is a unique school in many ways. One is the existence of a partnership committee that works with the school administrators to enhance the “aerospace experience” at the school and to provide advice and support to the school. This partnership committee is made up of individuals representing organizations in the aerospace and educational arena. Partnership members include NASA, Lockheed-Martin, University of Maryland, AJ Clark School of Engineering, Montgomery College, Northrop-Grumman, Goddard Space Flight Center, and the Civil Air Patrol. These partners not only provide classroom assistance but have helped create the aerospace education curriculum for the school with the hope of creating future “rocket scientists”!

December, the anniversary month of CAP, was the month that CAP was highlighted to the school as the “Partner of the Month”. Exhibits were set up in the main hallway and in the media center. Guest speakers were invited into the classroom to talk about various aerospace topics. A special assembly was held for all the students to meet Gus McLeod, aerospace adventurer and CAP Member. McLeod holds several aviation world records, including the only open cockpit flight over the North Pole. He is also the recipient of the prestigious Civil Air Patrol Brewer Award for Aerospace, at both the Wing and Region levels.

He was introduced to the students by Lt. Col. John Knowles, Maryland Wing vice commander, and received a very warm welcome. His talk included pictures from his trip to the North Pole and his attempted trip to circumnavigate from the South Pole to the North Pole. Following his talk several students approached him to shake his hand and offer their individual congratulations for his remarkable achievements.

The January 2008 issue of the Parkland Newspaper will feature an article about the Civil Air Patrol as the partner of the month. Over twenty students currently attend the after school program.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, was founded on Dec. 1, 1941, less than a week before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the U.S. into World War II. CAP is a nonprofit organization with more than 55,000 members nationwide. The organization's members perform 95 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions, as tasked by the Air Force's Rescue Coordination Center, and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 58 lives in 2006. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counterdrug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. Members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the more than 22,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet program.

"Our members have a proud legacy of selfless service to their country and their communities,” said Brig. Gen. Amy S. Courter, CAP’s interim national commander. “That service spans nearly seven decades and expands constantly as needs arise.”

Members take a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the almost 25,000 young people currently participating in the CAP Cadet Program. CAP's cadet programs provide young men and women with a safe and motivating environment in which to grow and explore opportunities in the military and aviation industries. CAP has been performing missions for America for more than 63 years.

There are approximately 1,300 members of CAP in Maryland. Last fiscal year wing members flew 34 search and rescue missions and were credited with 23 finds. Additional information about the Maryland Wing can be found at www.mdcap.org.