East Limestone High School senior Tori Beck already has enough flight time in a Cessna 172 to solo.
If that were not impressive enough, the 17-year old is an Air Force Academy nominee, a member of the East Limestone High honor roll; a student at Calhoun Community College; a member of Senior National Beta Club; captain of the Scholar’s Bowl team; and a member of the varsity cross country and track teams and the Athens swim team.
She developed her interest in both flight and teamwork after joining the Civil Air Patrol Cadet Program. The Civil Air Patrol is a volunteer civilian auxiliary of the Air Force that focuses on aerospace education, cadet programs and emergency services such as inland search and rescue. Its cadet program gets young people involved in the community through emergency-service missions and lets them test careers in aviation, space and technology through summer programs. In the process, it teaches them about aerospace, fitness and character development
“I enjoy the camaraderie,” said Beck, the daughter Alan and Mary Lou Beck of Harvest, who has one brother, Anza. “With most organizations, you go to meetings and that’s really it. In Civil Air Patrol, you have to be there for each other because you go through a lot and you do a lot in a short amount of time. You can’t depend on yourself, you have to depend on others.”
The cadet program has enabled her to ride in a C-130 cargo plane at Fort McClellan as well as a KC-135 in Mississippi, a jet-powered aerial refueling tanker.
“We got to refuel fighter jets,” she said. “I loved it.”
Beck is a ground team leader assistant for aircraft search and rescue missions. She is qualified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is a mission radio operator, a ground team member and a skills evaluator. She has attended the National Blue Beret special activity, where she received recommendation for outstanding flight-line marshaling service. She also participated in the National Emergency Services Academy, where she earned honors upon graduation.
Beck has about 14 hours of flight time toward becoming a pilot, though she is on hiatus from her flying studies while she concentrates on schoolwork, she said.
Earhart Award
As a cadet captain of the Redstone Composite Squadron of the Alabama Wing Civil Air Patrol, Beck recently earned the Amelia Earhart Award. The award is named after the American aviator, advocate and pioneer lost while trying to be the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. Col. Mike Oakman, wing commander for Alabama Wing Civil Air Patrol, presented her with the award Dec. 12, during a ceremony at the Officer’s Club at Redstone Arsenal.
The Earhart Award is one of five major awards given to cadets after they complete the first 11 achievements of the Civil Air Patrol Cadet Program.
To receive the Earhart award, cadets must complete the first11 achievements and receive the Billy Mitchell Award. In addition, the cadet must pass a 100 question examination test on aerospace topics, leadership theory and staff topics. Only 5 percent of all cadets earn the Earhart Award. Upon receiving this award, Beck was promoted to cadet captain.
Encourages others to join
Beck has already been on two rescue missions in which cadets looked for missing or downed planes. Often, planes reported as downed have actually landed too hard, triggering an emergency signal.
When she tells friends about some of the missions, they say things like, “I stayed at home and watched TV all summer,” she said.
Beck believes other students out there would enjoy being a cadet. They meet from 6 to 8 p.m. every Monday at Central Church of Christ in Huntsville.
“I first heard about Civil Air Patrol Cadet Program when I went to flying activities on Redstone Arsenal,” she said. “I heard that if I joined the Civil Air Patrol, I could get a pilot’s license. Later, I learned I would have to be 16. But, I stayed with the program and got more acquainted with what I could do with it and I got interested in emergency services.”
After graduation, Beck would like to go to the Air Force Academy and major in physics or to the Coast Guard Academy and major in civil engineering.
For more information about what the Civil Air Patrol has to offer students, call Tori at (256) 658-6619 or send e-mail to her at tori.beck@mchsi.com.
Or, call Maj. Patricia Mitcham, Civil Air Patrol Alabama Wing, at (256) 880-0623 or send e-mail to her at pmitcham@knology.net.
