This may be a bit of a strange request, but here we go…
After retiring from the Army and law enforcement, I started my new gig. In August, I became an English teacher in a private, all male military school that serves young men in grades 7 through 12 and Post Graduate. Located away from all modern conveniences and distractions, our cadets often find themselves with little to do in the limited free time that they have.
I am planning to start a model building club with these young men to get them involved in something other than “Fortnite” and other online instant gratification. Many of our kids can’t carry on a conversation with someone in the same room, so I hope to use this club as an opportunity to develop and reinforce rules, communication, social interaction, creativity, and FUN!!
So, if you find yourself overwhelmed with simple, unwanted, or outdated kits and you need to make room for that next batch of “wonder kits” give me a shout…who knows? We may be able to work together to pass along a great hobby to a new generation of modelers.
If anyone has any ideas, pointers, or comments, please let me know…would absolutlely love to hear from you…
Great idea you have sorry I have no stash, but I am curious to know, what in the world this “Fortnite” thing is that people apparently are addicted to.
Fortnite is an online first-person shooter game that is very popular with adolescent boys mostly…I’ve never played it, but apparently, you parachute or paraglide into an island war zone. you start off unarmed, or you may have a pickaxe. You ‘upgrade’ your kit by killing or maiming other players and taking their gear from them. The game also has a “pay to play” mode in which you can purchase upgraded weapons, uniforms, character traits, etc. You can also purchase slick dance moves to perform after your victories…I think it is totally ridiculous, but the boys are addicted to it and queue up to sign up for time slots in our small computer room… Who knows, I may join them one day to see what all the hype is about![:D]
Mostly this, but it’s actually a third person shooter. No one can really explain it’s popularity- excellent marketing and Youtuber influence, I assume. I’m a Zoomer myself and I’ve never gotten into it. It’s focused more heavily on younger boys- that’s where the kinda cartoony style and insane weapons and AIDS dances come from. It’s basically just a rip-off of older, better, and more realistic Battle Royale games like PubG.
Hmmm, that seems kind of tasteless. I seem to recall General Patton having said “You don’t win battles by dying for your country. You win by making some other poor son of a XXXXX die for his country” but I don’t recall him having said anything about “doing a cool dance move afterwards.”
Checked out your Flickr link; wow!! what a great collection of Vietnam photographs. Were you by any chance assigned to the 320th Field Artillery with the 101st Airborne? Saw the ‘Screaming Eagles’ patch and had to ask! Thanks for sharing the link!!
Hey Jay Jay, Just wanted to let you know that your package arrived safe and sound today here in Virginia. One of the kids that I coach knew what was in the package and begged me to open it up. Pretty soon we had a small crowd gathered around. It was good to see kids excited about something other than video games. We are still organizing as a club and can you believe that some kids have never seen a model?? Crazy!! We will hopefully have our first build some time after Easter when they get back to school. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks again, Dave
I was able to break away at lunch break and sign for the box of models you so kindly sent last Thursday. On Friday, my avid 8th grader stopped by and picked out the A37 Dragonfly. He reminded me of myself as a kid as he carefully inspected each of the kits and asked questions as he went along. You sent some real gems that I had built as a kid and I was able to offer a little advice. He was stoked, to say the least.
He completed that over the weekend, and was really happy with it. I haven’t seen his work yet on the Tweet, but hope to see it soon. I had hoped to have an open build day on Friday afternoon, but found out that the faculty has a mandatory luncheon with our Board of Trustees…So, I had to scrub that…[:$] Julian, my 8th grader, shot me a quick email after he got the bad news and asked me to sit aside one of the Skipjack subs for him and that he would pick it up on his break, Wednesday morning. [:D]
Thank you so much for the kits!! The kids are really excited and interested in modeling. I hope to have a dedicated build session soon to capture some of the kits and also to start teaching this guys how to paint up a kit. Wish me luck!!
