Good Morning! Here’s the Monday Morning Blog!
How was your week? Did you get a chance to talk to your teen yet? Try asking them what their favorite color is. You may just start a conversation.
I asked my two young adults what their favorite colors are. One said red and the other said red or black. Red and black were the school colors from the high school they attended. So, it makes sense. When we picked out their first cell phones, one was red, and one was black. And each kid got their favorite color.
National Women’s History Month
I’ve been focusing the posts this month on women who have done inspiring things or made contributions to our country’s history. Since there are five Mondays in March, I chose to write about another inspiring woman as a final post for National Women’s History Month, and that woman is Amelia Earhart.
Amelia Earhart, a fellow woman pilot
How many of you know that I’m a pilot? I soloed an airplane, became a private pilot and started an instrument rating. That’s where my training stopped. I came to a point in my life where I needed to focus my money on things other than flying. It wasn’t an easy decision, but since I’d still be a pilot after attaining the certificate, I knew I’d be able to complete training to become current and start flying again, when the time is right.
Amelia Earhart did a lot more flying than I have done. According to AmeliaEarhart.com, when she was ten, she saw her first airplane at the state fair and didn’t think much of it. “It was a thing of rusty wire and wood and looked not at all interesting.” She didn’t become interested in aviation until almost a decade later when a little red airplane swooped down towards her and a friend.
Growing up as a tomboy, she wasn’t afraid to take on things that were seen as not being feminine. She kept a scrapbook of newspaper clippings about successful women in male-oriented fields for inspiration. During my research, I learned she did a lot more than just fly an airplane.
She did other things before her first flight
Did you know that Amelia Earhart…
- After graduating from Hyde Park High School, she attended a girl’s finishing school. She left in the middle of her second year.
- She went to work as a nurse’s aide in a military hospital in Canada during World War I.
- Then attended college and became a social worker at Denison House, a settlement house in Boston.
all before doing her first flight on January 3, 1921.
Denison House contributions
According to Wikpedia.com, Amelia Earhart was hired as a social worker at the Denison House in 1926 and became a full-time staff member in 1927. While she was working there as a teacher and home visitor, she was in charge of adult education and supervised a girls program. She was also taking flying lessons to pursue the interest which was sparked in her.
After six months of working, she was able to save up enough money to buy her own airplane, a Kinner Airster.
Photo By John W. Underwood
Here’s what sciencephoto.com had to say about the airplane,
It was very much an experimental proposition. The engine was a Kinner-copy of the Wright Gale, forerunner of the Whirlwind, but it was anything but a success. It threw more oil than it consumed and vibrated excessively. The experience gained from Earhart’s flying helped Kinner build a better engine and by 1930 he was a leader in the field.
Flying takes over
After building flight experience on the weekends, Amelia Earhart received a phone call at work in April of 1928. She originally responded that she was too busy to answer, but finally decided to take a call that would change the course her life was on.
“How would you like to be the first woman to fly the Atlantic?”
Of course, she said yes, and it led to a flight in a Fokker F7 called Friendship. The flight made headlines worldwide, and led to many more flights, during a time when flying was building momentum, especially for women pilots. One of her most famous flights, the one to circumnavigate the world, she never came home from. She disappeared in July of 1937 and what happened to her is still a mystery to be solved.
An interesting story
Every person has a life journey. I’m interested in how people navigate the challenges in their lives to do great things. Amelia Earhart did some amazing things as a woman pilot, but she did other things which made her more than just a pilot. That’s the part of her story I didn’t know before I took a look. Be open to learning about other people. We all have interesting things and experiences to share with each other. If you are interested about learning more about Amelia Earhart, check out her website AmeliaEarhart.com.
My first book – The Hard Way
When Paul Jones meets Anik Hatcher and is introduced to his gang, Paul becomes a key player in their most harmful “prank” yet. He learns how the decisions he makes, good or bad, can quickly affect his whole life. Find out more by picking up your own copy of this teen/young adult read. The Hard Way
If you want to check out the first chapter to see how you like it, sign up for my email list and you’ll have the first chapter delivered to your email.
Have a great week!
