Where is Buster?
Beeville, Texas

Media Information TEMPLATES from Southwest Airlines
not customized to our project yet but will provide an overview of the project

Please Call:                                                                                     Customers Please Call:

[Field Sales Contact]                                                                      (800) I FLY SWA or

Southwest Airlines                                                                         en Espanol (800) VAMONOS

[Office Phone No.]                                                                       

**MEDIA ALERT**PHOTO OPPORTUNITY**MEDIA ALERT**

[SCHOOL NAME] Students Take Off for New Heights

with the Southwest Airlines Adopt-A-Pilot Program

WHO:              Can studying science, math and geography be fun? Fifth-grade students at [School Name] will find out how as they take off on a four-week educational adventure with Southwest Airlines [Captain/First Officer NAME] to study math, science, geography, writing and more.

WHAT:            The Adopt-A-Pilot kick-off event will include [add details here].

                        Celebrating its seventh year, the Southwest Airlines’ annual Adopt-A-Pilot program is a four-week mentorship program where pilots volunteer their time in adoptive classrooms and correspond from the “road” via electronic mail and postcards. Using an official route map, each class charts its adopted pilot’s course. The students incorporate the daily flying statistics sent by their pilots into the Adopt-A-Pilot curriculum provided.

                        Recognized by Secretary of State Colin Powell as a significant contribution to the community and its children, the program’s emphasis is to demonstrate the importance of education in reaching personal goals. The program will reach more than 18,000 students nationwide this semester.

WHEN:            [Day, Date]

                        [Time]

WHERE:          [School Name]

                        [School Address]

                        [Classroom or Other Directions]

VISUALS:       Students, teacher, and pilot having fun with aviation science, activities, games, Q&A.           

                        [Anything else specific you have planned]

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Media Please Contact:                                        Customers Please Call:

[Field Sales Contact]                                          (800) I FLY SWA or

Southwest Airlines                                             en Espanol (800) VAMONOS

[Office Phone No.]                                                       

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES’ ADOPT-A-PILOT PROGRAM

TAKES [SCHOOL NAME] TO NEW HEIGHTS

Beeville, Texas—February 17, 2004—On your next Southwest Airlines flight, you won’t be asked to take a test, but you might be asked to help grade a few papers. 

Celebrating its seventh year, the award-winning curriculum of Southwest’s national Adopt-A-Pilot program includes creative ways for its Pilots to personally connect with more than 18,000 fifth- grade students across the country. This year, Adopt-A-Pilot will also offer its program in Spanish, providing translated curriculum and bilingual Pilots to mentor classes with students who speak Spanish as their primary language.

Locally, 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th grade students at First Baptist Church School held a special kick-off celebration today to welcome their adopted pilot, Beevillian Captain Mickey Cole, with games, science discussions, and meet-and-greet activities.

            Southwest’s Adopt-A-Pilot program curriculum incorporates science, math, geography, writing, and other subjects to discover more than just how an airplane flies – the program demonstrates how education is critical in reaching one’s personal goals. Adopt-A-Pilot has more than 450 Southwest Pilots who volunteer for “adoption” through this educational outreach program, all going above and beyond to find clever ways to make learning fun. 

Pilots might ask their plane full of passengers to write notes of motivation and encouragement to their students. Some e-mail digital snapshots of a toy as it travels with the Pilot to various U.S. cities, including related geography questions as clues. During the four-week mentorship program, Pilots volunteer their time in adoptive classrooms and correspond from the “road” via e-mail and postcards.  Classrooms chart the Pilot’s course through an official U.S. route map, and the students record daily flying statistics sent by their Pilot in the provided Adopt-A-Pilot curriculum.

“We couldn’t be more impressed by the personal commitment of these Pilots who want to make a difference. We hear from teachers that many students have gained increased self-esteem and determination for future careers as a result of the Adopt-A-Pilot program,” says Greg Crum, Southwest’s vice president of flight operations. “At a time when all airlines are cost-conscious, Southwest has continued to advocate and increase support for this worthwhile program.”

Also new this year, Adopt-A-Pilot students can log onto www.southwest.com/adoptapilot and take a virtual tour of a Boeing 737 cockpit, “visit” Southwest’s headquarters in Dallas, Texas, and view streaming video segments that describe aviation careers.

Reinforcing its school-to-career theme, Adopt-A-Pilot includes a national contest -- “What’s Your Destination?” -- where classes are invited to script, direct, perform, and produce their own three-minute video depicting careers each student hopes to one day pursue. The winning class will earn an educational field trip to a nearby Southwest destination.

            Since it began in 1997, the Adopt-A-Pilot program has reached more than 65,000 students in communities from coast-to-coast.  Southwest Airlines originally developed the Adopt-A-Pilot program in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Education, America’s Promise, the Smithsonian Institute’s National Air and Space Museum, and others in response to the need for community involvement in schools. National leaders such as Secretary of State Colin Powell, former President Bill Clinton, and First Lady Laura Bush have recognized the program.

            The nation’s fourth largest carrier in terms of Customer boardings, Southwest Airlines serves 59 airports in 58 cities in 30 states. The airline currently has more than 4,000 Pilots and operates nearly 2,800 flights a day.

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