This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
02/07/2024 08:30 AMSince the beginning of last year, students at Joseph Melillo Middle School (JMMS) and East Haven Academy (EHA) have been reaching for the skies as part of the co-ed Aviation Career Exploration (ACE) program. As the first program of its kind in the United States, East Haven’s students are gaining hands-on experience of what it’s like to be part of an aviation enterprise as they learn about the many career opportunities in the field, from piloting a commercial airline to aeronautic engineering to air traffic control and emergency.
Jennifer Sicignano, a mathematics specialist at EHA, is the point person at the school for the program that is in its second year. Jennifer works with Baleigh Toon of JMMS to plan different activities within the program for students, some of which include working with their partners, Avelo Airlines.
“Last year we went to Sikorsky on a field trip. Then we did a turnaround flight where we flew to Baltimore and back, and then we went down to Orlando and flew flight simulators,” says Jennifer. “It was like a whole one-day trip.”
Aside from taking physical or simulated flights and going to aircraft hangers, students gain hands-on experience through various STEM projects related to aeronautics as part of the ACE program. Since mathematics is an essential ingredient in that discipline, this is where Jennifer gets involved.
One of the projects that the program’s students have worked on is a rocket launcher that they’re using to see whose projectile can travel the farthest in the hallway leading up to Jennifer’s room. To make their simulated rock go farther than anyone else's, students have to consider elements of angle of launch, applied pressure, and the weight of wings made of construction paper. Essentially, now that students have been on aircrafts, it is time for them to figure out how they work.
“Last year we did a lot of trips, and then Avelo came in with a lot of their workers,” says Jennifer. “As far as talking to different people who work in different aspects of aviation—because the job opportunity is incredible for them—we just want to bring in more of the engineering pieces to our work with the kids.”
From field trips to rocket launcher competitions, Jennifer sees that “the excitement is incredible” for participating students of the program. Regardless of their academic aptitudes, the enthusiasm is palpable.
“They may or may not struggle with academics, and then you put them into working with our hands and taking on experiences that are limited to other middle school students. The excitement, the teamwork—there’s not a word for it. It’s so incredible,” says Jennifer. “The excitement from last year's group and then seeing the collaboration of veteran aviators and then the new aviators coming together as a team and actually working together to create their rockets—Baleigh and I sat back, and we didn't need to do anything because their interest level was at its peak.”
Jennifer has seen ACE program students who may not have been the most successful in class transform into dedicated “aviators” whose work is exceptional. She thinks of a particular student who is dealing with “some issues going on behavior wise” that become unrecognizable, in the best way possible, while they engage in program projects.
“I went to [their] classroom teacher and I'm like, ‘I just need to share with you how attentive this child is, how hard-working this child is, how excited this child is, during our meetings.’ It's a different child that we're seeing within the program,” says Jennifer.
The combined enthusiasm and knowledge garnered from the rocket launcher project should help prepare the program’s incoming freshmen at East Haven High School, where ACE will be implemented during the next academic year.
Outside of the ACE program, Jennifer is quite active at EHA by helping students of all grade levels on their math skills, while moving in and out of classrooms. Jennifer sees the “staircase pattern” and “the development of confidence in their growth.” Since “math is all around us,” Jennifer fosters that growth being incorporating “real world application” into problem solving.
“They’re working with multiplying decimals. Why would we need to know how to multiply decimals? Yes, we have a handy dandy calculator. We’re going to pull it out. However, we want to be able to estimate in round numbers, so that when we go to the store, and we know we're having a party, and we're having 15 people—we want to make sure we have enough food for everybody,” Jennifer says.
Jennifer says that this “real world application” has proved helpful for athletes at EHA, noting a baseball player who is “the true meaning of an athlete,” but struggles with math. Jennifer loves when her students gain confidence once they see the role that mathematics can play in their specific walk of life.
“Once we talked about the geometry piece of mathematics in sports, you’re starting to get that confidence,” says Jennifer. “[They say], ‘Oh, alright, I can do this!’”