THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 24, 1995 TAG: 9505240475
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KERRY DEROCHI, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
After one day of Navy training, Milton ``Boo'' Baines can recite the four forces of flight.
Standing outside a simulator at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, he yells out the words, holding up long, skinny fingers as he goes through each one.
Thrust.
Drag.
Gravity.
Lift.
Baines grins when he finishes and walks jauntily to the school bus waiting outside.
Not bad for a fifth-grader, huh?
Baines, 11, is one of 24 students invited this week to participate in Starbase-Atlantis, an educational program designed by the Navy and the Norfolk public schools.
Modeled after a similar program in Pensacola, Fla., Starbase-Atlantis has offered the fifth-graders a chance to explore math and science by letting them see how the Navy runs its jets and ships.
The program, sponsored locally by the Atlantic Fleet Training Command, is designed to boost self-esteem by helping the students set goals and then work in teams to meet them.
``Our kids today have things they have to battle against that I didn't have to when I was young,'' said Petty Officer 1st Class Tim Nichols, who helped design the Norfolk curriculum. ``This program has a theme called dream plus action equals reality. We're trying to instill that in them.''
Baines and his classmates from Fairlawn Elementary School in Norfolk are among the first to participate in Starbase-Atlantis, which got under way this week at the Fleet Training Center in Norfolk.
A ceremony commemorating the kick-off was scheduled for this morning.
Nichols, a staff member of the training command, decided to try to bring Starbase-Atlantis to Norfolk after hearing about it.
The Pentagon paid the cost of the program, estimated at $300,000 this year.
``If we help out a couple of kids, all of our efforts have been worth it,'' Nichols said. ``It offers a chance for the Navy to give back to the community.''
The money has been used to hire two full-time instructors to teach the daylong classes, as well as 16 personal computers and other equipment recently installed at the training center.
The curriculum, which includes trips to flight and submarine simulators, has been designed to rekindle the students' interest in math and science as well as introduce them to the military.
The students spend one day a week for five weeks at the training center, watching soda cans explode to evaluate air pressure and watching eggs crash to examine the importance of seat restraints.
The final, crowning moment takes place at the end of the five weeks when the students build and launch their own rockets.
At Little Creek this week, Baines and his classmates climbed through the simulator used for the air-cushioned landing craft used to deliver Marines and their equipment ashore.
Wearing name tags with their new ``call signs'' written on them, the children pushed buttons and tugged at levers, trying to imagine driving the $28 million vehicles.
``I liked going into that room where you could sit under the whatchamacallit with all the buttons and the big screen,'' said Baines, whose call sign is Boo. ``Just imagine looking at a movie on this big screen.''
When asked if they liked the program, the students shouted in unison, ``Yes.'' When asked why, the answers varied.
``You get to do lots of stuff,'' said Marlon ``Bave'' Richardson, 11.
Baines added: ``We'll probably make our own projects.''
Said Mia ``Sea'' Holmes, 10, ``It's more interesting than social studies.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]
U.S. NAVY
This simulator for air-cushioned landing craft is among the sights
Fairlawn Elementary School students will see as part of the
Starbase-Atlantis program.
Norfolk students explore science
MOTOYA NAKAMURA
Staff
Instructor Rick Council explains the air-cushioned landing craft
simulator to Norfolk students.
by CNB