Students take learning up, up and away

Pupils from Spring Valley School in Palm Harbor get a feel for flying in a morning excursion in the skies above Clearwater.

[Times photos: Douglas R. Clifford] Overcast skies blanket the southeast view Wednesday over the Bayside Bridge as pilot Steve Ballou took two Spring Valley School pupils on a small-plane flight.

By LORRI HELFAND, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 28, 2002

CLEARWATER -- While their public school peers were on spring break Wednesday, Emi Sweetnam and Beatrice Murray had to go to school.

But you didn't hear them complaining from their classroom in the sky -- a Piper Cherokee six-seater.

The 13-year-olds spent the morning circling the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport with pilot Steve Ballou at the controls.

The two girls were participating in a special school project. They attend Spring Valley School in Palm Harbor. Spring Valley is patterned after Sudbury Valley School in Framingham, Mass., which has practiced student-initiated learning for more than 30 years.

That means students at the Palm Harbor private school are free to learn whatever they want. Emi and Beatrice decided they wanted to learn about aviation.

Emi Sweetnam, 13, handles the controls from the co-pilot's seat on Wednesday during a flight with pilot Steve Ballou who gave the student firsthand experience flying a small plane.

Ballou, husband of Spring Valley founder Diane Ballou, was eager to nurture their interests.

"I want to build their curiosity," he said. "I'm not trying to teach them to become pilots. I want to expose them and give them the basic knowledge to see if they're interested in doing it for themselves."

According to the Sudbury School philosophy, Mrs. Ballou said, students learn for two reasons. They have an interest in something or they have a need for it in their lives.

"When they're ready for it and they want it, they absorb it like a sponge," she said.

The flying idea started when one of the students, Adam Brusselback, expressed an interest in flying. He thought it would be neat to shadow a pilot. His classmates thought it was a great idea too.

Ballou, who refurbishes bridges for a living, has his private pilot's license and an instrument rating.

The students had to present a learning plan and get permission for the project. That's because Spring Valley is a "participatory democracy," where all students and staff have equal votes in all matters pertaining to the school.

Spring Valley School student Beatrice Murray, 13, of Palm Harbor, left, learns to check airplane fuel for condensation or contamination Wednesday during a preflight check with pilot Steve Ballou.

Wednesday's aviation class started with ground school. Ballou showed them how to calculate the plane's maximum weight limit and how to figure out where passengers could sit to maintain the plane's balance.

He gave them a rundown on the parts of the plane and demonstrated a basic preflight inspection.

Then it was time for touch-and-gos, take-offs and landings.

This was Emi's second flight with Ballou, but her first in the co-pilot's seat. Ballou told Emi to put her hands on the yoke as he banked the plane to the right. Meanwhile, Beatrice peered through tinted sunglasses at the bay.

He told Emi to push the yoke forward. As the plane descended, he controlled the throttle to slow down the aircraft. Then, he asked her to pull up on the yoke. The plane touched the runway and rolled to the hangar.

But minutes after the plane landed Emi was still flying high, a far cry from the girl who got sick her first time in the air.

"It was funky. I was in control of everything," she said. "That was awesome. I want to do that again."

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