March 17, 2020 Lloyd Haynes' STEM Project

The Liberty Gazette

March 17, 2020

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: According to the U.S. Dept. of Education, only 16% of high school students are interested in a career in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM), and have proven a proficiency in mathematics. 57% of high school freshmen who declare an interest in a STEM-related field lose interest before they graduate high school. By 2018, the need for workers in STEM-related jobs reached 8.65 million. Those are the sad stats, but let’s take a look at the good that’s happened behind the scenes.

Tracing back to 1957, the “Sputnik Era,” it was the launch of the Russian satellite into space that put the U.S. on the competitive path to technology and innovation. American spirit and ingenuity kicked in when Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy challenged us to step up and become leaders in these areas.

NASA and the space program were born in 1958, and later the first American stepped on the moon.

The 1970s and ‘80s saw incredible growth in STEM projects, encouraging further investment in education. Remember the dawn of the cell phone, the artificial heart, and the first personal computer? By the 1990s, that push for education was paying off, with curriculum standards and guidelines for K-12.

In the early 2000s, we knew the need was dire for U.S. students to increase their proficiency in STEM disciplines. So the federal government upped investment in STEM to add 100,000 new STEM teachers over a twelve-year period.

Linda: But before the cell phone and the PC, on October 27, 1972, a man who counted his blessings determined to pass this kind of knowledge on through aviation. That night, in “Lift, Thrust and Drag,” Episode 7 of Season 4 of “Room 222” (a TV series), the main actor, played by Samuel Lloyd Haynes, reversed a student’s attitude toward school by instilling an interest in aviation. Haynes played high school history teacher, Pete Dixon, in the Emmy-award winning series.

In the show, as in real life, Haynes was a commercial-rated multi-engine pilot. He was also black, which broke the stereotypes of the day. Haynes had served in the U.S. Marines from 1952 to 1964 and during the Korean War. Then he became the public affairs officer for the Naval Reserve with the rank of Commander.

Haynes was a natural pick to play the teacher in “Room 222”. He was into STEM before STEM was a thing and developed a program to encourage and train minorities in aviation.

“How could I turn my love for flying into an educational project that would encourage minority kids or potential dropouts in the many opportunities available in aviation?” Haynes asked. He knew it would have to be something “fun, yet realistic; motivating an inner fire causing their thinking to soar.” He answered his question by creating Education Through Aviation (ETA), which received Congressional honor. Through the program, he incorporated aeronautics to make a stimulating learning atmosphere for children, sharing his passion for flight.

The world could use more homeroom teachers like that.

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