florida air academy focuses
on finding state students
Shadows fell on Falcon Field at Florida Air Academy early one Saturday morning last month as the entire cadet corps prepared to strut their stuff for family, staffers and guests attending the Fall Family Weekend. A huge sign fluttered high in the guest-filled bleachers: "Welcome to Florida Air Academy: Home of the Falcons." At one end of the field, drum major Nick Twyman (who calls Hawaii home) raised his mace high. A drumbeat echoed, and the dashing red and white uniformed bugle and drum corps marched onto the field. Members of the corps then raised their brass instruments and began playing "God Bless America" followed by the peppy classic, "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy." Blue uniformed cadets, distinguished by different colored hats, smartly assembled five squadrons on the opposite end of the field. Members of the Saber Corps, for example, wore white berets; senior uniform hats were covered in white, and maroon hats identified women cadets. Top-rated cadet military leaders, known as "Wing Diamonds," stood at attention in mid-field. Honored this year were: Wing Commander, Lavour Addison, Freeport, Bahamas; Colin Odenhal, Albuquerque, NM; Christian Bishop, Tarzana, Calif.; Chris Madden, Miami, Fla.,and Senior Executive Officer Nicole John, West Melbourne, Fla. According to James Dwight, the school's president, FAA is more than twice as large as any other Florida boarding school. Once known for recruiting heavily from foreign countries, today FAA focuses on seeking suitable candidates from Florida. The school has more than 160-day students and 335 boarders. A sixth-grade program was recently added and women cadets admitted. A fleet of buses provide transportation home each weekend for Florida students. Dwight, striving for paperless classrooms, recently invested in what he calls, "Wow Technology." Teachers will soon be equipped with Tablet PCs, a portable, interactive form of wireless computer technology. Students are next in line to receive PCs. Sally Richardson of Melbourne exemplifies a recent family who has sent children to FAA.. "My daughter Lacey wanted to come here since she was in the fifth grade," Richardson said. "She was the first girl enrolled at FAA. I absolutely love it (FAA). Lacey is a senior and her sister Shelby, in the 10th grade, loves it too." |