I have been involved in aviation for over 60 years...

I have been involved in aviation for over 60 years, I have over 10,000 hours as a CFII/ME, and have given many rides to kids to introduce them to aviation. Frankly, I had become jaundiced by this effort, and had pretty much withdrawn from trying to get kids interested.
My local EAA chapter has developed quite a fund to support getting kids interested in aviation, mainly because of airplane donations to us by retiring members, and we started giving scholarships to the NFA,
I attended one of our tours of the NFA when we sponsored 10 kids to this program. i was not prepared for what I saw. BOY, WAS I NOT PREPARED!
What I saw was the most innovative, most challenging, most PRODUCTIVE program I have ever seen, far beyond anything I could possibly envision personally, to develop LEADERS in our youth.
These kids walk across the gangplank on board the AMBITION, and they are no longer kids. For the next 5 1/2 days, 24 hours a day, They are AXP's, the Navy's best pilots, and their job is to transition into being the pilots introducing the Navy's newest, most modern, most Star Wars airplane to the fleet. They are subjected to INCREDIBLE challenges, each individually tailored to that "AXP"'s abilities, taking them right out to the limits of their abilities. AND THEY DO IT! They do it. And they have a tremendous ball doing it. They have never worked so hard in their lives.
When they leave this program, they KNOW what they are capable of. They don't have to believe what they can do, THEY HAVE DONE IT. I know of no program anywhere that can establish leaders in our society as well as this one can.
I would have KILLED to take part in this program as a kid.
There is only one thing wrong with this program. There is only one of them. Similar programs need to be established in every single major city in the country. It's philosophy can be applied to just about any kind of career. This one, this National Flight Academy, is the ultimate. It sets the stage in demonstrating to any kid just how good, how capable he/she really is.