Children are the future (part 1 of 2)

[NOTE: Sharing your workplace for a day with the employees and leaders of tomorrow - like Gold Team members (above), from left, Jasmin, Arielle, Jack, Sean and Joshua, above, in front of Les Perhac's dramatic sculpture of loons In Search of Wilderness at Terminal 2 West - is no small task. But few tasks are more rewarding. Here is my first-hand account of the Airport Authority's Take Your Child To Work Day held Thursday, April 24, 2008. I wrote it just after everything finally wound down that day!]

WOW! What can I say ... it was my privilege to spend the day implementing the program that the Airport Authority's Careers In Aviation Team worked so hard to develop for our kids who came and spent the day at San Diego International Airport for our annual “Take Your Child To Work Day”! My day began sometime around 6:30 a.m.; it’s now 4:30 p.m. and I’m finally at my desk to write this.

I can’t begin to take you through the range of emotions I've been feeling! For those of you who can relate: It’s been kind of like an “E” ticket ride at Disneyland! By the way ... do they still have "E" ticket rides at Disneyland? I think that's something they only used to have ... he he!

For Goodwill Ambassadors of the Airport Authority, our greatest sense of achievement is when we are able to share our knowledge with others who aren’t part of the aviation industry. Today I know we reached that goal!

In a previous post - The next generation of Goodwill Ambassadors - I shared some of the intimidation I was feeling about working with the older kids. Last night, as I was at my computer typing up the list of clues for their Scavenger Hunt, I was dreading coming in today. Well, I was helped by an awesome team who I’d like to thank for sharing their talents, gifts and knowledge with the kids: both Jeffs, Alicia, Sandra, Carol, Kevin, Ryan, Michelle, Lisa, Kim, Ed, Jon, Dat and Peggy. I wouldn’t have made it through this day if it hadn’t been for all of you!

Our goal was to create a program where the kids would not only have fun, but also learn something about what it takes to make an airport work on a daily basis. So we came up with a Scavenger Hunt that really put the kids to work.

So here are just some of my favorite pictures from the photo journals the teams put together today. Like (above) Blue Team leader Lisa of Airside Operations with team members, from left, Nick, David, Tiffany, Chanel, Nick and Matthew.

And here's a priceless shot (below) of Red Team members, from left, Evan, Courtney, team Leader Jeff of Human Resources, Colleen and Brett (in front) bringing art to life with a reenactment of Gary Hughes' popular sculpture At the Gate in the lower level of Terminal 2 West.

Well, how convincing do you think they were?

You also need to check out the web page the teams built, with Jon of Marketing and Communications and Dat of Information Technology as their teachers; it is so much more than I had expected.

There will definitely be another post on what we did today, as I can’t even begin to put it all in one post! We’ll see you back here soon with more of the kids' photo journals and perspectives from both the kids and their team leaders.