Keri Kittleson
Junior Division
Individual Website
Process Paper
I have a love of aviation and flying. My dad is a commercial airline pilot, flight instructor, experimental aircraft builder and licensed airplane mechanic. He was raised in a very small town (about 70 people) in rural Manitoba, Canada and he was alone in his dream to fly. What he lacked in money, education and access to aviation facilities or airplanes he made up for in drive and dedication. When it came to choosing a topic, I knew I wanted to write about women in aviation and there hardships and often lonely journey. Most women had to struggle to fulfill their aviation dreams and fought to leave a legacy and path for other women to follow. I wanted to keep my topic informative and broad and include unsung heroes who may have never made the front page of newspapers.
My project started with a web search where I formed an outline of my theme, looked for women of importance and possible people to interview and what videos might be useful. I then researched autobiographies, biographies, interviews and historical documents and read items from the local library. I discovered the TWU (Texas Women’s University) campus in Denton has the official archives of the WASP’s and other early aviators. I made an appointment and spent a day researching documents and original archival memorabilia; and I interviewed Erica Block (archival assistant). Erica then contacted Sarah Rickman (historian and author about early aviation and WAFS), who allowed me to interview her. Other interviews included former WAF and WASP, Iris Cummings Critchell, Heather Taylor (film producer), Bob Malechek (a former student of Edna Gardner Whyte), and author and historian on women in early aviation, Henry Holden.
I decided to use a website format because websites allow the opportunity to present not only pictures and stories, but voices, viewpoints, and action in an interactive format. I started my site on Weebly NHD. I picked out clouds and a blue background because it looks like the sky and where you would find airplanes and pilots. As the website grew, I needed to organize the pilots into groups and pages. I used “next” buttons to help guide the reader and to prevent skipping pages. After researching and putting in pages, I got attached to some of the aviators and it was difficult deleting some of them and narrowing it down to so few.
My topic “Leaders and Legends: Women in Early Aviation” relates to the NHD theme “Leadership and Legacy”, because early women in aviation often had to follow their own dreams to success without much help along the way. They led other women into believing that they could fly or pursue their dreams, even when flying was supposed to be a “man’s job”. They showed other women that they could be daredevils, adventurers, and even help out in the war. They paved a legacy for other women to follow. They showed them that they could do just as good as men or even better.
Words: 497
Junior Division
Individual Website
Process Paper
I have a love of aviation and flying. My dad is a commercial airline pilot, flight instructor, experimental aircraft builder and licensed airplane mechanic. He was raised in a very small town (about 70 people) in rural Manitoba, Canada and he was alone in his dream to fly. What he lacked in money, education and access to aviation facilities or airplanes he made up for in drive and dedication. When it came to choosing a topic, I knew I wanted to write about women in aviation and there hardships and often lonely journey. Most women had to struggle to fulfill their aviation dreams and fought to leave a legacy and path for other women to follow. I wanted to keep my topic informative and broad and include unsung heroes who may have never made the front page of newspapers.
My project started with a web search where I formed an outline of my theme, looked for women of importance and possible people to interview and what videos might be useful. I then researched autobiographies, biographies, interviews and historical documents and read items from the local library. I discovered the TWU (Texas Women’s University) campus in Denton has the official archives of the WASP’s and other early aviators. I made an appointment and spent a day researching documents and original archival memorabilia; and I interviewed Erica Block (archival assistant). Erica then contacted Sarah Rickman (historian and author about early aviation and WAFS), who allowed me to interview her. Other interviews included former WAF and WASP, Iris Cummings Critchell, Heather Taylor (film producer), Bob Malechek (a former student of Edna Gardner Whyte), and author and historian on women in early aviation, Henry Holden.
I decided to use a website format because websites allow the opportunity to present not only pictures and stories, but voices, viewpoints, and action in an interactive format. I started my site on Weebly NHD. I picked out clouds and a blue background because it looks like the sky and where you would find airplanes and pilots. As the website grew, I needed to organize the pilots into groups and pages. I used “next” buttons to help guide the reader and to prevent skipping pages. After researching and putting in pages, I got attached to some of the aviators and it was difficult deleting some of them and narrowing it down to so few.
My topic “Leaders and Legends: Women in Early Aviation” relates to the NHD theme “Leadership and Legacy”, because early women in aviation often had to follow their own dreams to success without much help along the way. They led other women into believing that they could fly or pursue their dreams, even when flying was supposed to be a “man’s job”. They showed other women that they could be daredevils, adventurers, and even help out in the war. They paved a legacy for other women to follow. They showed them that they could do just as good as men or even better.
Words: 497