Arms out! Eames Way Kindergarten pupils show how to fly!
Marshfield’s Eames Way Elementary School Kindergarten classes flew high in the sky last week when they visited Marshfield Municipal Airport. Eames Way kindergarteners started visiting the airport about eight years ago, but each year it’s the first time for the next class of kids.
The airport is managed by Shoreline Aviation Inc., and Shoreline’s Assistant Airport Manager Ben Garman did the honors, serving as host and tour guide for two groups of young pupils, assisted by Shoreline President and Pilot Keith Douglass.
Assistant Airport Manager Ben Garmon describes airport operations to Eames Way School Kindergarteners.
Assistant Airport Manager Ben Garmon describes how wing flaps work to raise and lower the plane.
Eames Way Kindergarten teacher Annie Violissi has been taking her classes to visit with Shoreline for all the years she’s taught there, so her kids could learn about their hometown airport. She used to take Daniel Webster Elementary School pupils before that. Two groups of kindergarteners visited this time.
“Every year we come back,” Ms. Violissi said. “It’s a favorite thing to do. We let the kids know that this is an important part of our town. Half of the classes hadn’t known about it.”
Ms. Violissi sent a note to her Kindergarten families informing them of the field trip.
“Our EWS kindergarten will travel to the Marshfield Airport to learn about this community business and the operations of the facility,” her note reads. “Our students will have an opportunity to see the operations inside the airport, meet an airport manager, a pilot, board a small plane (and jet if available) and experience the mechanics of the plane first hand from the airline mechanics. They will view the garage and hanger where the mechanical work is done. This is a trip our kinders have enjoyed in the past and look forward to!”
Assistant Manager Garman told the kids how the airport operates during his tour in the terminal building. He then took them onto the tarmac and into a hangar to experience a prop plane and a jet up close.
“The kids saw the numbers on the screen in the lobby and learned new vocabulary, too,” Ms. Violissi said. “They learned the term ‘flight director.’”
Outside was more fun. The kids got to sit in the pilot seats of a Piper Warrior prop plane used for flight instruction and toured inside a Citation jet.
Two Eames Way Kindergartners try out the Piper Warrior cockpit for size. They especially like to steer the plane.
Kane demonstrates to his classmates how jets fly.
Assistant Airport Manager Ben Garmon, left, and Shoreline Aviation President and Pilot Keith Douglass show the pupils how they open the 75-foot-wide hangar doors.
“We could move the gears and watch the wings move,” their teacher said.
The pupils and teachers gathered in a hangar entrance in front of two jets and started to sway back and forth with arms extended.
“We were pretending to be airplanes!” Ms. Violissi exclaimed.
Photos courtesy of Eames Way Kindergarten teacher Annie Violissi
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