Region Review: Southeast Region
The Southeast Region consists of 14 chapters located in the states of Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Georgia has 3033 members in 4 chapters; North Carolina has 1998 members in 6 chapters; and South Carolina has 1564 members in 4 chapters. Each state and their associated chapters live the AFA mission of Educating, Advocating, and Supporting our great Air Force in their own unique way. Whether it is our smallest chapter of 66 members from Kitty Hawk, NC or the Region's two largest chapters each with 1,000 plus members from Georgia (Dobbins Chapter in Atlanta and Carl Vinson Memorial Chapter in Warner Robins), each chapter does the best they can to support AFA-and as Region President I'm supported by a very dedicated core of volunteers.
The Region supports several major installations: Robins AFB and Moody AFB in Georgia; Pope Field and Seymour Johnson AFB in NC; Charleston AFB, Shaw AFB, and McEntire JNGB in SC: as well as the Air Force Climatology Center near Asheville, NC. The chapters within the Region actively support 15 Air Force ROTC detachments at colleges and universities, and over 50 AFJROTC units and Civil Air Patrol squadrons.
Georgia
State President: Dudley Bluhm
The Savannah Chapter 137 is led by Sarah Barber (acting)
The Carl Vinson Chapter 296 is led by Michael D. Trotter
The Dobbins Chapter 331 is led by Dr Arthur Johnson
The South Georgia Chapter 381 is led by Nick Lacey
North Carolina
State President: Joyce Feuerstein (acting) for Louis Emond (recently deceased)
The Scott Berkeley Chapter 131 is led by Michael Hartsfield.
The Tarheel Chapter 207, is led by Patrick Yanke
The Cape Fear Chapter 366 is led by Norm Melton.
The Harley Pope Chapter 386 is led by Brian Wilson
The Blue Ridge Chapter 424 is led by Alicia Hughes.
The Kitty Hawk Chapter 425 is led by Dwight Wheless.
South Carolina
State President: John Allen, Jr
The Columbia Palmetto Chapter 383 is led by E.G. "Buck" Shuler III.
The Charleston Chapter 297 is led by Linda Sturgeon.
The Strom Thurmond Chapter 153 is led by James W. Dowis.
The Swamp Fox Chapter 298 is led by David "Bush" Hanson.
If you look at the Region as a whole, you can see that Educating the Public, in fact, Aerospace Education, is right at the top of our mission. The region provides a large number of scholarships and grants to individuals and schools in support of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The chapters near USAF bases all participate heavily in sponsoring and presenting Pitsenbarger Awards to CCAF graduates. Also, several chapters near USAF bases provide direct support to STARBASE programs. Seymour Johnson AFB just celebrated their 21st year of STARBASE-a fantastic milestone for a program that educates rising 5th graders about the Air Force. In addition, all three State organizations have robust Teacher of the Year recognition programs. In 2009, 2005, 2003, and 2001 the top AFA National Teacher of the Year award winners came from the Region. Chapters within the Southeast Region sponsor over 70 Visions of Exploration classrooms, led by the Swamp Fox Chapter in SC which alone sponsors 10 Visions programs in several schools in the Sumter area. Even chapters that are not near Air Force installations work tirelessly in supporting Aerospace Education.
The region is continuing the hard charging attack that was epitomized by Louis Emond, the North Carolina State President, who recently passed away in May, 2012. Our region believes strongly in Aerospace Education, and we believe Cyber Patriot is THE crucial cog to AFA's support of STEM.
How many Cyber Patriot 4 teams did the region have? NC had 40 teams compete. SC had a finalist in the All Service Division: South Aiken High School won the Top Service Award for all Navy JROTC units in the country.
One more thing: if your chapter is looking at raising more money, the Wreaths Across America is a great fund-raising program that our Region is doing. For more information, please go to http://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/store/individual-wreath-sponsorship/
Submitted by: David Klinkicht, Southeast Region President
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