Written by AMA staff (03/2006); Transcribed by JS (02/2008), Reformatted by JS (09/2009)
Ross Howard from Georgetown, Indiana, is the recipient of a $9,000 Charles Hampson Grant scholarship and received $3,500 from the Weak Signals scholarship fund. A 2005 graduate of Floyd Central High School, Ross, a straight-A student in all four years of high school, tied for top ranking in his class of nearly 350.
The son of Beverly and Dennis Parr and Ron and Joanne Howard, Ross is attending Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana, and plans to study electrical engineering. He was a member of the wrestling team in high school, a member of the student council, and a member of the school’s chapter of the National Honor Society. Ross participated in Student Renaissance, marching band, and the French, Chess, and Web Page Clubs.
A member of St. Marks United Church of Christ, Ross is a Boy Scout and attained the rank of Eagle Scout during his junior year in high school. His Eagle Scout project was to clear a large plot of land near the Providence House for Children, which provides group homes and services for children in foster care. On the cleared land, benches, which Ross built himself, were installed, providing a peaceful setting for parents visiting their children at the facility. Ross spent a number of hours working with veterans’ programs, other community projects, and many school-service activities. He has tutored students in math, and has mowed and maintained several neighborhood lawns since 2000.
Encouraged by his father, he began modeling when he was eight, starting with plastic models, then a Control Line Cox PT-19 trainer. With his father, Ross went to a local field and flew a solid balsa Control Line model with a .35 Testors engine. “Later I learned that it was the same model that dad taught his high school model airplane club to fly with back in the ‘70s,” Ross wrote.
A Dave Brown simulator helped Ross learn to fly Radio Control and he also has learned to build and fly Free Flight models.
Ross has been an AMA member for eight years. He and his father worked as a judge and a runner/scribe at the Mint Julep Scale Contest in Kentucky, and the pair worked three summers at the AMA Grand Event when it was held at AMA Headquarters in Muncie, Indiana. “While dad worked as a buddy-box instructor,” Ross explained, “I flight-prepped the students by telling them what the controls did and what to expect as they flew.”
“Dad has instilled in me a love of aviation and modeling, and I look forward to doing the same for my children.”
Congratulations, Ross! AMA wishes you the best in your chosen career.
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