Re-building Our K-12 Program - The Man Leading the Next Generation: Winged Victory Ep 38

Rob and Scott sit down with the Museums K-12 lead instructor, Travis Arnold.  The 3 of them have a very interesting conversation on the state of teaching WWII history in today's schools and the steps the Museum is taking to help fill that void with todays school kids from all around the state and even outside of the state.

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The Museums next flyday will be on June 20 and we can tell you, you won't want to miss it!  It was said at the end of the episode that the Helldiver would be flying but that has been changed to the F7F Tigercat! Go to worldwarIIaviation.org and get your pre-sale tickets for this special event!

Get your tickets now for the Pikes Peak Regional Airshow here in Colorado Springs, CO. at  PPRAirshow.org

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Guest Travis Arnold: Travis.Arnold@worldwariiaviation.org

Rob Gale: Mewe@robertgale.69

Scott Klaers: @scottklaers Insta/Facebook

William Stephenson: lilboots_2of4 Insta

National Museum of WWII Aviation on Facebook

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Winged Victory with Rob and Scott, a podcast by the National Museum of World War II Aviation here in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

SPEAKER_05 1:30

Hello. Welcome to Winged Victory, a podcast from the National Museum of World War II Aviation. Winged Victory with Rob. Me, and Scott, the handsome one on my right.

SPEAKER_04 1:44

Yeah, that's me. The handsome one. I'll take that.

SPEAKER_05 1:47

Yeah, you should. Yeah, you should. I don't have many more years of that. Well, milk them, milk them while you got them.

SPEAKER_04 1:53

Do what I can.

SPEAKER_05 1:54

This morning, we're talking to our friend Travis Arnold.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

Hello. Uh, yeah, Travis Arnold, and I run the K-12 education program here at the museum.

SPEAKER_05 2:04

Yeah, and this is intended to be kind of a segue from our last conversation with Mark Earl, because Mark's up here on the program, and you know, he's the general, and Travis and his sidekick Andrea are out in the trenches with uh we're the boots on the ground out there with the kiddos. And what, 51 fourth graders yesterday?

SPEAKER_02 2:26

Yeah, yeah. This week we had an entire fourth grade class come in, so we had half of it one day and then half of it the next day, about a hundred plus total. So yeah, it's been a fun couple days here.

SPEAKER_04 2:37

I guess before we even get off of that, I mean just a quick one on that. Um the fact that you have a whole program set up and these kids show up, and then what happened yesterday that like derails it?

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Um Yeah, so uh yesterday we uh were firing up one of our planes while I was moving the kids in between hangers from one activity to the next, and as you can probably imagine, that became the activity watching the plane for about 10 minutes and just getting all of the joy in the world out of watching it fire up, and so it's something you don't get at a normal K through 12 school.

SPEAKER_04 3:07

Yeah, when you're going between classes and then you have a P40 fire up, yeah, you know, and run. Yeah, it's a little bit different.

SPEAKER_05 3:14

I'd have I was excited enough. I might have actually gone to school then if that I was excited enough at this age, but in in fourth grade, I'd have been over the moon.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

Yeah, yeah. One of the things that I do when I first bring them in is I bring them in through the hangar doors instead of the normal doors, and as soon as I open them up, there's just so many wows and their eyes light up, and my job is easy after that because they're so excited about the planes.

SPEAKER_04 3:37

So I guess before we get into all that, I mean, where are you from? Where did you how did you get into education? How did you find your way to the the museum's education program? Yeah. You know, what's your background? Who are you?

SPEAKER_02 3:47

Yeah. So I'm from Colorado originally, so this worked out that I uh found a nice job here with the National Museum here in Colorado. Um I got my bachelor's and my master's in history also here in town in Colorado Springs. And right when I was looking to move on to my next teaching position with my master's degree, um uh spot opened up here to get the education program back on its feet. It had been kind of shuttered since COVID. So I've been here since 2023. This is the end of my third full school year, and um yeah, it's just been a joy spending the last couple of years learning everything I can about the museum and incorporating all these great planes into our curriculum as I've been reworking it. And yeah, now that uh yesterday was just the end of my third full school year, the education program is um, I'd say, back full momentum. Uh, we've got the air show coming up in the fall, so I'm sure that'll give us another nice bump um, you know, view from from the public eyes and talk to a lot of parents and teachers at the air show. But yeah, that's my my background and just getting the program up and running has been my main goal.

SPEAKER_05 4:59

Yeah, well, before we get deeper into that, sure. Uh you mentioned future plans, but uh one of the kids yesterday has future plans.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

Yeah, so um it's always wonderful to hear the the joyful comments from kids when they're leaving about all the the cool things they've learned here. Uh good comment I got just the other day was when one of the little girls was leaving, she very excitedly asked me if we were still open in December. I said yes, and she said she was coming back, and I said, Great, why December? And she said, That's my birthday party, so I'm gonna have my birthday party here. So clearly it had an impact on her that she was that excited about that she wants to come back and bring all of her friends here again.

SPEAKER_05 5:40

Yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_02 5:41

So the way Mark was putting it, um the K-12 was still sort of a STEM program back back when, but you Yeah, I kind of I came in and uh overhauled things a little bit because while all the STEM pieces are so important, one of the things about our museum is that it's kind of a natural merging of STEM in history with the planes and the um historical context. So I kind of separated out the lessons so now that we have STEM options and history options, so that way when schools come they can pick and choose, and if they want both, they can do STEM in the fall and then come back and do history in the spring so they can see a little bit of everything, and that way they can really pick and choose what is going to be the best experience for their students.

SPEAKER_04 6:33

So I've been hearing a lot of grumblings uh in the last few years about schools and and maybe their lack of teaching World War II, I guess, or history. Sure. Is that something that I mean you're actually on the front lines of all that, so is that something that you've seen? And do you feel like this education program here at the museum is actually kind of helping to fill that gap?

SPEAKER_02 6:52

Oh, very much so. Yeah. It's um it's definitely seems to be a little uneven out there, um, how much exposure to World War II history kids are getting, but in general, it seems to be lacking, and that's one of the main reasons I love bringing them in here because we do have the ability to fill in those gaps and tell stories and stuff that um I think probably all of us got in school growing up that, as you pointed out, seems to be told less and less now.

SPEAKER_05 7:19

Actually, I didn't get it in school because it seemed in the school year. It wasn't history. Well, no, I it was current events. Current events, yeah, yeah, there was that. Yep. Sorry. Wait. Love you, big guy.

SPEAKER_04 7:37

That's why we got you here.

SPEAKER_05 7:38

Hey, I I living history. I wasn't I wasn't quite around for VJ Day, but close. Okay. But it seemed to me as a history buff in the school year, you know, we'd start with colonial times, and then just about the time that we were getting to World War II, the school year was ended, and it never kind of never got there.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

Yeah. So at least in that instance, there was some uh chronological order to the history you're receiving. Um that seems to be less so the case out there. There seems to be more jumping around, so they might do Revolutionary War in fourth grade, and then World War I, fifth grade, and then Vietnam in sixth grade, yeah, civil rights. So um it seems to be a little out of order, and understandably, even if they do get World War II stuff, understanding how it fits into the larger context and its legacy going into today, even, is I feel like something that is harder for them to grasp until they're actually here and they see this stuff physically in person.

SPEAKER_05 8:42

Well, there's a lot of reason to do chronology because things have happened in those orders. Yeah, you can do themes and and the like. And I like the fact that you've got both tracks, and I think that's gonna be especially important for the the secondary schools, even more than the uh you know, the elementary kids.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Yeah, absolutely. Uh the way that we're able to build that foundation with like middle schoolers and high schoolers and stuff. I have so many students come back and ask, How do I start working here? Can I volunteer here? Um and I think at least a number of those students have come back and ended up working on our flight simulator, our N3N, um, or with one of our other teams. So there's at least enough of a connection there that we're starting to get some of the younger generation to uh commit to particip participating with the museum and um being here.

SPEAKER_05 9:39

Well that's a that's a vital part of uh keeping this museum going and and growing. I mean sooner or later we daughtering old guys will go west and we need generations to come out. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 9:57

Are you able to like you only have these students here for about three hours? How are you able to kind of get that seed planted in such a short time? I mean, usually that's something that you know somebody needs to sit in every day and kind of absorb. But I mean, I know that you guys don't just bring them here out, you know, cold. You actually have like a program that goes on at the school beforehand. But um explain that a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, thank you for bringing that up. So something that I think is really, really wonderful about the education program, like you just mentioned, is uh there's only so much I can do with uh a finite number of hours with them, especially with the museum as large as ours, there's only so much we can see. So um students when they come through our education program, as opposed to just showing up at the museum and getting a general tour like a normal patron would, what we do is we actually talk with their teachers beforehand, figure out what level they're at, what needs there are, so if they're focusing on STEM or history, and then we actually send them a couple of lessons that they'll do before they come visit the museum. So they do like a mini unit, and that way when I get them on the day of their museum visit, they're like already warmed up, they already know their stuff, and we can just like hit the ground running and really make the most out of our four hours, and that has been tremendously helpful because I do a little knowledge check QA when they first get in, and it's always amazing to see and hear how much they've learned.

SPEAKER_05 11:26

Well, I've I've found that even with the docent tours, it's been very helpful for me to just do a little bit of let's all let's all get on on the same wavelength. But what would be a typical field trip in here? Field trip.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Yeah, as it is. So um a typical field trip, I would bring the students in. Like I said, I bring them in through the hangar door so they get that big wow moment when they first walk in. Um, usually a literal wow moment. I hear a lot of little wows, and then I bring them into our classroom area. I'll do our classroom uh knowledge check to sort of get to know them, see what they know. I ask about what they want to know, if there's any planes or artifacts that they're already seeing that they want to know more about so that they can learn what they want to learn about. And then we'll usually do a couple of activities. I'll highlight a couple of the planes or artifacts that we have here in Hangar 2 to um highlight whatever the theme of our lesson is for that day, and then we'll usually get to do a little exploring at the end, and depending on their age and what lesson they do, they usually get to go home with something, some kind of plane with movable control surfaces or something, so they can take their knowledge with them when they go.

SPEAKER_04 12:38

So on a on a personal level, you you know, you got your education, you wanted to be a teacher. But generally speaking, when you become a teacher, you kind of you have your class for that year. Yeah. So you kind of you get to mold these minds, but you you know, you get to know them and everything, so that's a great part. But in this aspect, you kind of got your tentacles out in a lot of different ways. So I mean, for you personally, how does that feel to be able to affect so many people and and give them something to really look forward to or think about? I mean, like you're really touching a lot of kids figuratively speaking, touching a lot of kids, you know, throughout the year.

SPEAKER_02 13:18

Yeah, again, that's uh that's a really great question. Um, as you started out with there, if I were a more traditional classroom teacher, I would have maybe 30 students that I'd have for the whole year, which is nice. On the other side, being on this end, I may only have students for a day, which is unfortunate I don't get to know them as well. But as you said, I get to see so many students from so many different classrooms, so many different schools. So there's something immensely rewarding about that, that in any given week I might have kindergarteners one day where we're comparing birds to planes, and then the next day I'll have juniors and seniors in high school who are getting ready to go off and start their engineering degree at School of Minds or where have you. So that's something that is uh immensely joyful about it, and also just getting to see not only so many different ages, but to help so many different schools and so many different different districts. As you said, my tentacles spread far. Um I'm not uh required to stay local or anything. So we've had schools come from as far as North Carolina last year, um from yeah, a lot of nearby states, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico. Um we've had schools from all around, so that's something that um my tentacles get a stretch so far that instead of just having one classroom, I get a different classroom of students every day that hopefully will take some of this with them out into the world. And from what I've personally seen, um, I can attest to the fact that at least some of them are very much doing that and taking it with them when they go, which is really nice to see.

SPEAKER_05 14:53

Well, we we talk a lot about planting the seeds and then nurturing them. Have you had repeat students?

SPEAKER_02 15:02

Yes, yeah, that's one of the main um goals that I've had over the past couple years is uh while I can't ever have my own classroom year after year, at least I can have repeat students that I can see year after year, and there have been students that now that this is the end of my third full year, I've seen three times, and um there's a couple in particular I can think of that I've seen go from being teeny tiny little elementary schoolers to now they're teenagers, they're middle schoolers, and um so are you starting to see where schools are putting it in maybe in like say third grade, this is something that they're gonna do when they get to third grade now that they're they're gonna have this stem, or you see it where they're like you're seeing multiple kids or the kids multiple times, so maybe they're rolling it.

SPEAKER_04 15:46

So it's just kind of on a teacher basis, like if a teacher decides they want to do this, yeah, you know, it doesn't matter what grade. I mean, you know what I'm saying? Like they're are schools kind of putting it in now that they're you're getting this thing rolling and they're seeing the benefits of it.

SPEAKER_02 16:00

Yeah, so I'm seeing kind of both sides of that. So if like um let's say a third grade comes in one year and that third grade teacher really likes it, I know that they're gonna be bringing their third grade back every year. So I'll be seeing that same teacher, and then conversely, when those third graders go on to fourth grade, they're telling their team, they're telling their teacher, and then the fourth grade teachers are getting told, I guess I have to do a field trip here. So I'm getting both. So it's rolling through, and I'm getting those consistent research.

SPEAKER_04 16:25

So the schools are allowing multiple grades sometimes from some of the same schools, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

It and that's really wonderful. We actually had a K through six school in town who brought every single class individually. They brought their kindergartners first, second, and they all did different programs. So I got to see that entire school top to bottom over about two weeks, and that seems to be uh more of a theme as I'm getting the good word out, and uh word of mouth is spreading more and more. So it's been really good.

SPEAKER_04 16:53

So, how important do you think this is? I mean, you haven't you weren't expecting to do this when you started. Yeah, yeah. This wasn't even on your horizon or process. And I know that's something that I never really experienced as a kid in school that to have a program like this to go to. Yeah. I mean, do you see this as something that that needs to be maybe done in other places as well? And absolutely. I mean, it really there's a benefit to this that that you can't get in the schools anymore.

SPEAKER_02 17:21

Yeah. Um, I mean, I could talk all day about all of the the various benefits, but especially like we talked about, just the fact that they're getting this exposure that they might be missing in school. Even if they are getting really, really good exposure to World War II history in school, they're not getting this, they're not getting flight simulators and uh P40s out on the runway firing up their engines in the middle of the day. So I think all of that is tremendously important. And um to a deeper degree than that, the legacy of World War II and just sharing it with the new generation and leaving them with the impression of how important all of this is and that it's not just ancient history, because I think a lot of them, when they come in, they think about it in the same way we might think of you know the Civil War or something. That was forever. Okay, thank you for clarifying. I was gonna ask. So yeah, well, and dodge dodge the draft. That's good, that's good. Um, so yeah, I think that we're able to get deeper in that level, and I'm really, really seeing, although it's not necessarily every single kid, there are at least a handful of kids in every single group that I see that leave with that look on their face, they're like, this really meant something, this really sunk in. I'm really excited to get home tonight and talk to my grandma and grandpa about you know their memories of this or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 18:39

So out of that, but based off of the STEM side, you you talked about maybe engineering students coming in and being all excited. But how how many kids have you personally seen that maybe came in and didn't really have a direction or have an idea of anything and then walked out of this place thinking, oh, maybe this is an avenue. Um, you know, I could be a pilot, I could be an aircraft mechanic, you know, maybe get a little excited about something like that.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

Yeah, that is uh again a good question. Um I don't know if I could give like an exact number, but I could safely say hundreds. I mean, we've had thousands and thousands of kids come through the program just um under my tutelage, and like I said, if there's even just a handful in every group, um that adds up, and yeah, I'd say at least hundreds, many of whom have I've personally seen come back here, like I said, and and help uh in our restoration hangar, help with our N3N flight simulators. So I've actually seen the the real-time exposure of them go from walking in the door, maybe not being interested, being having no idea what they're walking into. Yeah, having it's just another thing.

SPEAKER_04 19:48

Oh, I'd I might like to do that.

SPEAKER_02 19:50

Yeah, this might be what I want to do with my life. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 19:52

Well, and I think also you've you've introduced flight to a lot of kids. Yes. Just, I mean, even if it's the kindergartner, this is a bird, this is an airplane, how how are they similar? But just the the germ of the idea that oh, I could I could maybe fly.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

Yeah. It's um that one is something in particular that uh it doesn't seem to be as common from what I've noticed these days for kids to be thinking about pilots, because when I was a kid, I feel like that was one of the common ones, you know, quarterback, ninja, pilot, those were those were common ones. Um yeah, a lot of kids come in here without any desire to fly at all, and then they get a little time in the flight simulator, or again, just seeing one of our planes take off, and all of a sudden something goes off in their head and they say, I really, really want to fly. Especially, I've noticed it with um the young men, but especially the young women in a lot of my classrooms and stuff, when I talk to them about the wasps and whatnot, that seems to really light a fire. And I've had a lot of young women um ask about using the flight simulator if not coming back and actually working the flight simulator, telling me when they're leaving that they want to be pilots in the future. So that's really, really rewarding to see that.

SPEAKER_05 21:10

I had one yesterday on the N3N. Good, yeah. And I I just happen to have, and honest to God, just happen to have, because it was it's been pretty dead there, and I'm working on the July fly day, which is about the wafts and the wasp, and this little girl's looking over my shoulder, and she's just gotten out of the simulator. So yeah, I I I do. I yeah, you see the guys come in and and I had an exceptional young man yesterday. All I had to all I had to do was turn it on for him. Pretty much, and well, set the parameters, okay, knows it's gonna, you know, knows it's gonna come down at 50. And then, you know, I was if I'd had more time, I'd have thrown an engine failure or something. But uh but you do see that. Back there with the hands-on.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 22:02

But I think without your foundation, it it doesn't mean as much. And and you know, if I say pitch, roll, you know, some of these huh? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

It takes that actual, like you said, a hands-on experience.

SPEAKER_04 22:22

Next time I'll study, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_05 22:28

Hey, you you are a pilot. I that's the problem. Yeah, well, that that could be, you know. What? Get get some amateur interfering with you.

SPEAKER_04 22:38

So you've been doing this thing for three years now. Yeah. You've got to really kind of you know change it, kind of mold it into your own vision a little bit. Yeah. Um, what's in the future for this thing? What do you what what are some of your aspirations? How would you like to see this thing grow? Yeah. That you know you haven't been given the grind green light to do yet.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Yeah, good question. Well, um now that I, like I said, I'm at the end of my third full school year and I really, really feel like everything is dialed in and really, really clicking, and we've got all of our return groups uh on lock, as it were. So many of them have already booked for next year, which is wonderful. Some of my aspirations going forward is just to continue to expand and grow the program even more than I've already done, because while I've done a lot of uh word of mouth and talking with teachers and trying to get us out in the community the last couple of years, um, I'm really, really going to spend the summer doing an uptick and outreach and trying to let's hit Florida, let's hit California, let's get as many kids in here as we can. I want to have double the number of students next year as I did this year. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 23:43

Um I want to out of state now.

SPEAKER_02 23:44

Yeah. Oh yeah. I if we can spread the good word about, well, World War II in general, but especially our museum, um, and have them go back to their communities and spread the word, that's wonderful. I know anytime I look at the logbook up front, it's just every other name is from like a different state. Um, so many different countries and stuff represented. So if we can get those students in as well and have them take the knowledge back to their communities and tell their other teachers and students, and then get more people from outside the state, that's tremendous. But um, long story short, I just want to build the program. We have so much wonderful stuff here, and I just want to show it off.

SPEAKER_04 24:22

And do we have any foundations that are supporting this now? Um anything that we should maybe give a shout out to, or if there or maybe there's anybody out there that'd be interested in in helping with this. Pony it up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:35

Yeah, that is a fair question, which uh, as we talked about a little while ago, Mark being the general and me being the boots on the ground, that might be a better question for him than for me. Um but yeah, I know that um we do get a lot of local support and that that helps a lot with supporting our education program, um, which we're very grateful for. But as far as specific targets to hit, uh I would ask Mark Earl about those ones.

SPEAKER_05 24:58

Well, and so far, this is you and one other teacher.

SPEAKER_02 25:01

Is that I I have my right hand, Andrea. Yeah, we've had uh a couple of other educators um here and there, but yeah, I've had basically my one right hand, and that is something else continuing to grow the program. I'm uh naturally handcuffed by only having a small team, but once I start to grow my team, we can have even more students in and have even bigger groups, um, which sounds uh a little intimidating as I'm thinking about it, but uh it's a it's good intimidating. The more the better.

SPEAKER_05 25:28

So, what's a typical week? How many, how many groups will come in and I mean, we again we just saw, you know, 50 one day and 50 the next.

SPEAKER_02 25:39

Yeah. Um I'd say that's uh about right for a normal week um because of the nature of our schedule being open Wednesday through Sunday and schools being Monday through Friday. That Wednesday through Friday is really our wheelhouse. So um we won't necessarily always have groups Wednesday and Thursday and Friday, but um we'll have at least one to three groups every week. We usually start right at 10 a.m., right when the door is open, uh, which is nice because we kind of have the run of the place and we don't have to scare any of the patrons that aren't here yet with our loudness. Um and yeah, we'll spend about three, four hours doing our knowledge check, exploring the museum a bit, going through whatever activities are specific to the curricula that they're working on, and then like I said, I usually send them out the door with something they can take with them so that they can take the knowledge as they go.

SPEAKER_05 26:29

It's important. I saw that I saw the little airplanes, they actually had control surfaces.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

Exactly. Yeah. So um talking about roll pitch and yawn hands-on, when we have 50 of them, we can't get everybody through the flight simulator, but we get a miniature version of that where they get to build, like you said, small airplanes where they can actually move the elevators, move the ailerons, and see, oh, when I put the ailerons like this and then throw it, that's how I create roll. And they start to get those connections, and then I tell them next time you guys go fly on a real plane and you look out the window and you see the flaps moving on the wings, you can lean over and explain to your parents what's going on out there.

SPEAKER_00 27:07

That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_05 27:08

Yeah, that is.

SPEAKER_02 27:08

That's great.

SPEAKER_04 27:09

So if we have anybody watching this that wants to bring their program out here, how do they get a hold of you or how do they how do they do that? How do they get set up to do that?

SPEAKER_02 27:16

Yeah, tremendous question. So um they can always go to our website, um, which is updated and has all of our information on there about the various programs we offer and contact information. Um, I believe my contact information is also on there.

SPEAKER_04 27:30

That's on the museum website.

SPEAKER_02 27:31

I believe so. And uh, if not, it's travis.arnold at worldwar twoaviation.org. They can reach out to me directly. And like I said, my goal is just to get as many students in as possible. So all takers are welcome.

SPEAKER_05 27:44

Well, strangely enough, I'll be speaking to a fourth grade teacher in Nebraska this coming week.

SPEAKER_02 27:49

All right, well, put in a good word. Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 27:51

Send them send them my way. Yeah, you know, if I can get my grandson's class out here, I'll be uh I'll be a happy boy. He's he's been through a few times, but I'd like to proselytize a little bit. Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_04 28:03

Well, it's a fantastic thing that you do. We really appreciate um having this. And the and it's great for us, uh you know, for me personally, to see all these school kids coming through all the time and and seeing their eyes just big as saucers and asking questions and just having a real general curiosity about something that they've probably never even seen before. So the fact that you guys do this and you know, this make this such a big part of the of the museum is very honorable.

SPEAKER_02 28:30

Yeah. Well, thank you, and um I'm honored to be a part of it. I feel lucky every day that I get to come to this awesome place and do what I do. And like you said, the the kids make it all worth it, seeing their eyes light up and stuff. Yep, they make it really easy. So I'm I'm happy to be here and uh I hope to continue to do this for for a long time and continue to grow this program. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_05 28:51

Last questions? I'm done. That was mine. Did did we uh draw you out enough? You guys were one to miss.

SPEAKER_02 28:59

Very professional. Uh you guys did obviously.

SPEAKER_01 29:01

That's the last time I heard that one.

SPEAKER_04 29:05

But hey, I showed up and my my hair was did. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:09

You are a professional. It's just we're not professionals.

SPEAKER_04 29:12

I'm leaving for a vacation tomorrow and I'm already out, man.

SPEAKER_05 29:15

So now that the the pro would be uh be the young man behind the scenes behind the scenes because Yeah, without him, none of this has happened.

SPEAKER_04 29:25

Yeah, yeah. Thanks very much for sitting down with us. I really appreciate having me.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

Yeah, I really appreciate it. You guys were great. All right, thanks, Travis. Yeah, thanks for tuning. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:33

Well, again, I I was thinking this would be a good segue into the uh from talking at the stratospheric strategic level with Mark. Now we've got frankly, okay, he's gone. A really gifted, gifted teacher. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:51

Well, and it's nice that he could speak too. Well, part of very clear with his thoughts. I mean, it's good.

SPEAKER_05 29:57

Part of being a gifted teacher, I think, is you know, speaking. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:01

No, it was great. I mean, I didn't know what to expect. You know, I I know that we've kind of I don't want to say harped on the education program, but really it's a huge part of this place. And it's it's something that I you know, just like talking to him about it, that it was kind of feel like it's lacking in our schools a little bit. And it's not like, you know, they need to learn everything and it needs to be taught to the everything, but it's a good thing to have to bring them out here and see it and touch it and you know, oh yeah, breathe it and and watch it run. And I mean, there's no better way to get somebody excited about something. You know, it's one thing to open a book and read about it. And and some people can get excited from that, but not everybody can. Yeah, and I I enjoy reading too, but I mean it, you know, it it wouldn't get me as excited as it would if I came out and you know, like you said, opened up the doors and oh my gosh, what's look at these airplanes.

SPEAKER_05 30:58

These beautiful airplanes, you know, most of those kids I would wager have never been this close to a real airplane.

SPEAKER_03 31:05

No. No. I mean, there's a lot of adults that come out here that haven't been this close to a real airplane.

SPEAKER_05 31:10

Well, and then to to have the P forty running up on the ramp.

unknown 31:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:17

I mean, I'd have been over the moon in four.

SPEAKER_04 31:19

Everybody stops when that thing you know, when we run something out here. In in much less, you know, can you imagine coming out on a field trip and whoa, what's that?

SPEAKER_05 31:28

Yeah. Yeah, it's great. And as somebody who was mostly self-study, I mean, once I could read and had a library card, it was you know, off you go. But to inspire uh kids who otherwise wouldn't have an opportunity, I think is a is a great job. And I mean, I believe it or not, was a secondary school teacher for a brief unhappy time. And to to have literally K through twelve and maybe sometimes in the same week, that that really shows uh an adaptability uh as an educator. And uh Travis's sidekick, Andrea is is uh gifted as well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:21

Um well we're lucky to have him here, we're lucky to have the program here, you know, and it's something that got started a long time ago. You know, something that you know Mark Earl and my dad get got started out here, and there's great support for it, you know, and I think that it, you know, it's proving a great tool that a lot of you know maybe companies can start getting involved in it out here. Yeah and and not only here, but it may be at other places as well, to to you know, really try to funnel some of these kids into the into their you know work, you know, you're talking Southwest or United or you know, hey, you not just the flying side, but the mechanic side. Well, I mean, there's so many jobs out there and they're good jobs. I mean, they are good paying jobs.

SPEAKER_05 33:09

Good paying and enjoyable benefits, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:12

Well, and and you know, I I mean be a pilot or be a flight attendant, and then go, you know, spend a couple days in Mexico or Italy, you know, on your layover. I mean, and you get paid while doing it.

SPEAKER_05 33:27

Well, and and having spent far too much of my life sitting in front of a computer screen and not really producing anything. Um skin in that Mustang wing is looking much more attractive.

SPEAKER_04 33:43

Yeah, well, like I said, I can never do what you did. There's no way in a million years. I would have I would have off myself years ago. Well, it I can't. There is no way. I can hardly sit down and send out an email. It drives me nuts.

SPEAKER_05 33:55

The the thought occurred to me more than once.

SPEAKER_04 33:57

Yeah. Well, I'm glad you didn't. I'm glad you're still here. Now we're talking about it.

SPEAKER_05 34:02

They didn't they didn't have to take my shoelaces and belt away, but a couple of times. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:08

Well, we want to thank Travis for coming out. Yeah. I mean, sitting down with us, and he did it on very short notice, and we really appreciate it. Um, the fact that we got to talk about that was fantastic. Um, speaking about airplanes running, yes, we're gonna be having by the time this thing airs, it'll be uh the June fly day. Yeah, and uh I think that the Helldiver has gotten rescheduled to fly that day. Oh wow, yeah. So, you know, it might be worth coming out to see to see a super airplane.

SPEAKER_05 34:37

It's always worth coming out for a fly day, but that just makes it a little extra special fly day.

SPEAKER_04 34:45

I mean, not that it's the B-25, but you know, I mean the Helldiver. Well Helldivers pretty cool.

SPEAKER_05 34:50

Hey, I get the B-25. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:53

So we'll just call that the Wing Victory uh podcast day. It might, it might be. I'll be flying and you'll be talking. Yep. So if you'd like to support the museum, you go to our description. We'll you could find Travis's information on this description page, the website worldwaraviation.org. If you are interested in bringing your classroom out, uh get a hold of them and they'd be more than happy to get that set up.

SPEAKER_05 35:18

Sure would. And even just, I mean, we get a lot of school groups coming through uh as sort of a field trip, you know, they come in for two or three or four hours. But this this really makes it uh I think more valuable.

SPEAKER_03 35:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:37

If it if it can be said, and also if you'd like to support the museum, we're always happy for whatever support we get from anybody who uh who appreciates what we're doing or attempting to do.

SPEAKER_04 35:52

Yeah, we got a lot of future plans. It doesn't stop here. No, we keep it going. Nope. That's uh and speaking of that, we'd like to thank our sponsors. We got champion spark plugs, we got Concord batteries, we got Blazing Aviation, several other outfits that help us out, and we really appreciate that as far as the museum goes. So, you got anything else, partner? No, sir. I'm going on vacation, so we're getting out of here. So for William Stevenson behind the glass, or uh Travis on sitting down and helping us out with the guests today, my partner Rob Gale and myself Scott Clares. Stay safe out there.

SPEAKER_05 36:28

Please do.