On Saturday, May 4, 2019 at 12:05:04 PM UTC-4, wrote:
I was taking a look at the most recent meeting minutes and came across this paragraph.
"Director Maleady addressed, as Treasurer, that he has no idea how the Youth/Junior Committee is spending, how they’re raising money, and ended using a $5,000 donation from the museum in putting on a camp. We were not aware of it. Director Schrader offered that CEO Layton was aware of it.. Director Maleady said they were aware after the fact and that the museum wanted to give the money to the club and not the SSA because they feared the SSA would misuse the money. The plan was that some of the money would be used to reimburse the pilots that flew with juniors. Director Maleady also mentioned that Director Whiteley approves expenditures. Director Whiteley interjected that he had nothing to do with the junior camps and contest financials. This discussion taken off line."
In the spirit of transparency, can you please explain the results of the discussion that was “taken off line”?*Can you please explain how the Youth/Junior Committee is spending money? Also, can you explain why the museum “feared that the SSA would misuse the money”?
Rhonda Clerkin
Hi Rhonda,
Excellent and fair question - I can certainly see how reading that in an isolated context would leave a lot of questions open. Unfortunately, I was not at the board meeting so I cannot speak to the events in the report but can help clarify a few factual elements.
- In order to further encourage soaring among those under 26 and build a strong foundation for the future of the sport, the SSA's Youth/Junior Committee began organizing a yearly contest to bring together young pilots and provide mentoring opportunities. Both anecdotal accounts and empirical data (going back to similar camps hosted as far back as 2005), show that the retention rates among these pilots are extremely high. In fact, not only do a large majority of these pilots continue soaring into adulthood (even with kids, changes in jobs or careers, and growing families), but many have given back to the sport in ways that are almost unimaginable – some becoming CFI-G and/or DPE, others have become commercial operators, professional pilots, aerospace engineers, or leaders in their local glider clubs, and a majority of former Junior campers continue to fly cross-country or participate in regional and national soaring contests to this day (a handful winning one or more national championships and/or having been selected to the U.S.. Team, either as a Junior, or the Women’s Team, or to the U.S. Team).
- Recognizing that even with the SSA's junior rebates, the cost and difficulty of participation (hotels, gliders availability, hull insurance costs, food, transport) is still a significant barrier to entry for many (especially the younger juniors), the committee choose to establish a two-seat class (where juniors fly with experienced mentors in gliders provided by the organization) and a traditional, racing single-seat class that’s recognized by the SSA as a sanctioned regional contest (awarding ranking points to the entrants).
- To further lower the barrier, the contest would provide resources beyond what is expected at a traditional regional contest (i.e., pooling housing and food costs), and the organizing committee found generous sponsors who further subsidized the costs to the juniors (for example the Rick Walters Scholarship Fund and the National Soaring Museum).
- These camps have been very successful. Since 2016, 54 Juniors have participated in the four events that were hosted at Texas Soaring Association, Harris Hill, Sandhill Soaring Club, and Williams Soaring Center. They included many firsts - contest, task completion, landouts, regional wins, etc.
- Director Whiteley authorizes disbursements in the management of the flight training scholarships and not for the event - this is what likely lead to the confusion in the board meeting. To avoid any conflicts of interest in the organizing committee, expenses and documentation of such for the event are submitted directly to the SSA office for approval and disbursement and the accounting is managed through normal SSA processes.
- The comment "because they feared the SSA would misuse the money" is missing critical context. There was a concern in initial discussions that the donation may just go into a general donation bucket that could be used for the SSA's general operating expenses and not go 100% to the junior event. After clarification that the donation would go into a restricted account for the 2018 junior camp/contest expenses only (and any leftover monies would remain with JYC to fund future junior camps), the NSM chose to make it's $5,000 donation directly to the SSA and no further concerns were raised after that clarification."
I hope that helps - please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any other questions.
Best,
JP Stewart
Youth/Junior Committee Co-Chair