On Tuesday, September 15, 2015 at 7:45:39 PM UTC-4, wrote:
I can add my view as the Junior advisor for Harris Hill's program. Before I do that, I want to be clear that I'm speaking personally, not on behalf of the club. The opinions are my own.

We have 35 active Juniors, 26 in high school, the balance of them are in college, so are not usually here except during the summer. I was handed a thriving Junior program several years ago by Janell Sullivan, so can't tell you what it takes to start one. I can tell you what it takes to sustain one.

1. You must have a critical mass of Juniors in the program. One or two Juniors doesn't cut it. The kids like the seniors and value their experience with them, but let's face it, they prefer to hang out with their peers. You need several so they are all at the field together. Otherwise, they get tired of hearing the same stories over and over and drift away.

2. Plan for churn. Some kids (like adults) decide this isn't for them and move on. Some kids really like it but have too many activities and something has to give. There will be churn as that happens and you need a critical mass of kids to survive the inevitable dropouts or the whole thing grinds to a halt.

3. Kids like action. The understand that they need to help out with line duties and club stuff, but the real reason they joined was to fly. If they end up working more than flying, they stop showing up.

4. Parents have to help out. We take kids on at age 14, before they can drive. We all know that being at the field is the way they make progress and Mom and Dad have to shuttle them up there until they are old enough to drive.

5. Average lifespan of a Junior as a contributing club member is about 4 years -less if they come to us at 15 or 16. It's essential that you explain to them what the deal is up front because your club is making an investment of time and money in them. Thus, joining our program is not easy. First, I make both parent and Junior read an introductory document that lays out in detail the duties and program for the Juniors -and the parents. Then, I require them to meet me in person where I go over the exact same information. We tour the operation, and if we can do it, we take the prospective Junior for an introductory ride. AFTER all of that, I send them home and instruct them to discuss the commitment with each other and for the Junior to contact me if he/she wants an application. This 'no surprises' approach makes sure they know what they are in for and I think it makes our investment in their training more valuable.

6. We hold monthly meetings and I track their flight progress both to keep them focused on the prize and to see if they're getting flights. First instructional flight, 10 flights, flying tow, piloting landings, solo, checkout in the 1-26, 1-34, A, B, C badges, Silver C, private pilot. We celebrate flight achievements and encourage everyone to keep making progress.

7. The club is all about instructing the Juniors. I can't emphasize this enough. If your club is only lukewarm about it, then forget trying to spark an interest in a Junior program. We subsidize flying for the Juniors, making it very low cost. Period. People may say one thing but they vote with their wallets. If your club isn't willing to incur time and expense for a Junior program, then they aren't actually interested in one.

8. Juniors rarely fly except when school is out. We are fortunate enough to be able to host daily summer operations. The kids wait until they are clear of school (end of June around here) and fly daily through August until summer ops ends. We often employ collegiate Juniors as CFI's, comm pilots (to fund the daily ops) and tow pilots. This works for about the first two years of college when they need flying jobs but can't get them yet. The kids really respond to flying with and being taught by Juniors who are just a bit older than they are. When school begins, they have fall activities and when it is ending, they are trying to get their final exams and projects finished. They just don't always have time to get out to the field.

9. We try to match resources to requirements. We understand that it is much more expensive in terms of resources and effort to attract and partially train a member that abandons their training than to ensure the existing student pilots get to their certificate. Since Junior training has to fit in there somewhere and competes for instructor time, we limit the number of Juniors to a number we can both afford and train. That keeps both senior students and Juniors happier in terms of being able to access instructors..

10. Mentorship. I realize we are very fortunate to have both experience and equipment on the field. Because the club is on board with Junior membership, many of our members will take Juniors on local or cross country flights 'just because'. One of the things they learn from this is that you don't have to stay local, you can stretch out and go somewhere. And, I'll just point out that the average teen kid is absolutely clueless about how to get from student to cross country pilot. They absolutely need someone to show them how to get there and impose a little structure.

11. Even a little upgrade is exciting to a student pilot. I see a lot of people disparaging 2-33's but they're cheap, they do a great job of training, and they fly sufficiently like a 1-26 that our kids are genuinely excited about getting checked out in, and flying the 1-26. They love it. And, after a fashion, they move up to the 1-34 and LOVE it. Can you imagine LOVING and being EXCITED about flying a 1-34? I can, because I see it all the time. The 1-34 opens up the possibility of stretching out to get that cloud just a little further away and it is a great 50k cross country machine. The kids usually get their 5 hour flight in the 1-34 (or 1-26) and compete for it on any given summer day.

12. They're not DIYers like many of us are. I've found our senior members to be independent, take charge folks. Teens are not like that. They don't fix up cars (I'm generalizing here, but you get the picture), know how to change a tire, or know how to build a deck. Nor are they particularly interested in how to do that. It's obviously generational, but they just aren't into it very much. That's a little bit at odds with what I know about soaring culture, but having said that - they're usually game for almost anything. They don't care if you camp out, forgot the tent and only brought candy bars for dinner. They're adaptable and that's awesome. They could also care less about club politics, which they view as a bunch of adults bickering over stupid stuff while we could all be flying. Refreshing.

13. Junior flying is competing with other leisure activities and almost all of them are WAY easier to do. Both Juniors and parents have to feel like they are getting something of value from membership. You may think that kids ought to be grateful to fly your aircraft and you're right, but that's just not how they are going to view it until later, when they've gone of on their adult adventures. I try to structure our meetings with a theme each month so they are worth attending (providing pizza helps) and remind the kids that of the 600,000 pilots in the U.S., they only hand out about 150 student licenses to 14-15 year olds each year. That gets their attention because it underscores how few kids get the opportunity they do. I also have a blog for the parents that they can get to in our member section so they can find out what is going on in the program.

14. See number 7, again. It takes a lot of EFFORT to do this but the payoff is watching awkward, clueless 14 year olds turn into responsible, mature adults in front of your eyes. Whether they go on to a career in aviation is immaterial - they carry the gift of flight with them for life. You all know what I mean.

Whew. That's a lot and I apologize for the length of this post. I'll end by saying that even with our amazing resources, we don't do a great job of shepherding the kids to fly XC. You have to remember, they have almost no clue about badges, flight recorders, paperwork, or pre-planning. You have to bring them along to this when they are ready. For my part, I'm going to be more organized and focused at our monthly meetings by explaining the badge levels through Silver C and helping them understand how they can achieve those levels. It's all about opening their eyes to the possibilities.

One last note - when we were starting to get down a bit in our Junior membership, all I had to do was ask the kids if they'd tried to get any of their friends involved in soaring. Within a month, we had several new ones and have added them steadily all year long. Kids are still interested in flying.

That's my two cents.

#4 i rode a 1 speed bike everyday uphill both ways and sometimes a passing senior picked me up and took me the rest of the way.