Flight academy plans American Legion Week

The National Flight Academy (NFA) is hosting a special American Legion Week in July.

Based in Pensacola, Fla., NFA has helped thousands of seventh- through 12th-graders learn STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) principles while developing an interest in aviation. Students – called Ambition Experimental Pilots – spend a week on a multi-story, 102,000-square-foot facility. They learn from military instructors, eat in a mess hall, sleep in staterooms, and experience the constant rumble of the ship’s engine and aircraft taking off and landing.

The flight academy will match every sponsored scholarship for the 144 students attending the six-day development program from July 3-8, 2016. During the Legion's 2014 Fall Meetings, the National Executive Committee approved a resolution endorsing the flight academy.

“We want to educate people on the importance of our history and how it will affect us in the future,” says Michele Sweigart, a member of Post 340 in Pensacola and executive director for development at the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation, which oversees the NFA. “The American Legion, Auxiliary and Sons of The American Legion take a lot of time and effort mentoring children and educating them on the importance of government and military leadership, (and) teamwork, and that is exactly what we do here.”

Learn how American Legion members and posts can participate here.