Young Flyers Camp

This summer I've been able to combine my teaching background and aviation knowledge to teach a Young Flyers camp at Thunderbird Aviation.  Each session the kids have been so enthusiastic about learning to fly.  I wish I could have had this experience at their age.  Their background knowledge ranges quite a bit...I think some of these guys know more than me!  But we've had a fun week learning some of the basics about flying. As I continue in my career I'd love to keep finding ways to help educate kids about aviation.

"The Teaching Gig"

I remember after graduating from college with my education degree and speaking to an acquaintance. "Ah...the teaching gig," he said.  "I was a teacher once too."  Between those lines something rubbed me the wrong way, as though it might just be a "gig" for me too.  Nah man, I'm a lifer. 

I had always envisioned my career trajectory as a teacher, staying at one school, and eventually becoming a head football and/or track coach.  I love having an active lifestyle and was eager to promote a new kind of Physical Education--different from the stereotypical gym teacher in movies who rolls out the dodge balls and then checks out.

I am passionate to see all kids grow in their love for physical activity and living a healthy lifestyle.  I don't want to create an environment where only the athletic students succeed and others feel shamed.  For example... One way I promoted this culture was having the class do push-ups for 30 seconds, instead of trying to do X number of pushups.  That way no one is left watching the "slower" or "weaker" student... everyone is working hard together to improve themselves.

My career started at College Prep Elementary school in St. Paul, MN.  I was the lone full time Phy Ed teacher in a converted strip mall. If I jumped, I could touch the ceilings of our "gymnasium."  The room was decent in size, but carpeted.  It was an exciting way to start my career because I was able to create a program from scratch.  I found such satisfaction in the job and had wonderful working relationships with the staff.  But I kept my eyes peeled for other positions as the job didn't promise to increase too much in salary and the hours were so long there was no margin for coaching.

Teaching at Heritage Middle School

After two years, I interviewed and accepted a part-time position in West St. Paul.  The job was expected to grow into a full-time role.  I got plugged into coaching football right away as a running backs coach for the Varsity squad.  I loved working within a Phy Ed department and actually having co-workers who taught the same things I did! That year I coached wrestling and track and field as well. To our surprise, the following summer, an ESL teaching position opened up at my school.  Sara applied for it, interviewed, and was offered the job.  Now here we were, both working at the same school and starting to envision our careers and lives in this community.  But then things changed.

Baby.  We were expecting Isaac! Now this didn't change much of anything at first, except for Sara's frequency of popcorn cravings, but it eventually led her to find a different job in which she could work full time from home, able to stay at home with Isaac (our son) and still bring in a comparable salary as to what she had been earning as a teacher.  She was so excited about being able to be home with Isaac, but I will never forget the day last summer we went to school and she packed up her classroom.  She had come off such a successful year with her students and felt so invested in the community already.  Walking from her old classroom back to our car, she cried.  Am I doing the right thing?  Am I a failure for choosing not to teach?  She had a lot of doubts, and yet we both knew this was the next thing, and it was right for her.

The big news of this post is that I've recently learned that my teaching position is not being renewed next year due to budget cuts district-wide, and it seems the decision has become quite clear.  I feel frustrated leaving on someone else's terms; my pride would have much preferred that I be the one to make the final choice about leaving.

So for me, I guess teaching was just a gig.  One of the most intrinsically valuable "gigs".  It's been a privilege for me to be a teacher and a coach because of the many teachers and coaches that raised me.  I feel like teaching gave up on me.  There are serious systemic issues within education as it relates to teacher tenure and lack of societal value of non-core subjects like the arts, music, and physical education and health. I will always be an advocate for these areas to be more valued in education.

Getting to the Demo Flight

Coach Pimental: top row, far left.

For the past couple years, I've been working as a part-time Phy Ed teacher by day, a coach by evening, and a Residence Life Coordinator by night.  My wife and I live on our college campus where I now supervise a group of RAs.  I am compensated with housing for my job at the college, and my wife is also working full-time as a teacher.

One night last school year after a meeting at the college, one of my RAs, Conor, hung back to chat with me.  He was an amazing student, great baseball player, and top notch RA with his eyes set on law school post graduation.  He told me he was considering becoming an airline pilot.  Wow! I thought. Tell me more.  He went on to explain to me what he new about the industry, the process of becoming an airline pilot, and the airline pilot shortage that we are just on the brink of as baby boomers hit the mandatory retirement age of 65.  He said he went on a demo flight and loved it. I told him to keep me posted and then walked back down the dorm room halls to my home.  My wife and I probably had a conversation about how to keep a handful of middle schoolers from doing nothing in gym class (that is, to try to get them to at least do something), and I probably mentioned Conor's demo flight experience and how I thought it was cool, and then we probably ate dinner at 9pm and then we probably went to bed.

A week later, Sara had scheduled a demo flight for me.  I was so excited to go up in a small plane.  I could literally count on one hand the number of times I had been in any airplane.  Unfortunately, the day of the flight came and the pilot called me to say that the clouds were too low and we wouldn't be able to make it work.  I was disappointed.  He tried to reschedule but it was a busy season for us, so I dropped it.

Me, Sara, Auntie Terri & Uncle Darwin

This past summer, Sara and I went on vacation in Hawaii, visiting our friends.  We shared a lot of good conversations with our hosts who became fast friends.  I shared with Auntie Terri the story about Conor and his choice to pursue an airline pilot career and how Sara immediately booked a demo flight for me but it all fell through.  I was sharing the story in the context of how encouraging Sara can be.  Then all of a sudden, Auntie Terri started to sound just like her.  You'd be a great pilot, John! Uncle Darwin and Auntie Terri have some close friends who are pilots and they offered to connect me to a mentor in the industry.  I thought that was kind.  Then we got ready for a camping adventure with our friends.  Flying was out of sight, out of mind.

Not a week after we had returned to Minnesota from our vacation, Sara had scheduled another demo flight for me.  Last month on August 7th, 2013 I took my first flight.  And that is where this story begins...