Thirty-two Blue Angels Elementary School fourth and fifth-grade students toured Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC) and brought some holiday cheer Dec. 6.

The students created holiday ornaments as part of a Kiwanis Kids (K-Kids) project and brought them along to spend time with Sailors as they decorated a Christmas tree together in the Nimitz barracks. K-Kids is a Kiwanis International service club designed to foster leadership ideals in members, who identify a school or community need and develop a plan of action to meet the need.

"The majority of our students have parents who are serving in the military," said Kathleen Moriarty, Blue Angels Elementary School faculty advisor. "This project and tour of classrooms helps them further understand what some of the young service members here are doing and that they could be away from their families during the holiday season."

As part of the visit, Chief Aviation Electronics Technician Andrea Kent, who organized the event, led a question and answer session with NATTC "A" School students. NATTC instructors also fielded questions as the elementary school students toured the aviation support equipment laboratory, the Aviation Ordnanceman John Finn Hangar and the aviation power plants engine laboratory.

Chief Hospital Corpsman Victoria Newberry, who also helped set up the event, said that aside from the opportunity to celebrate the holiday season with local elementary school students, the chance to explain what students learn at the NATTC schoolhouses was beneficial.

"These children are quite possibly a future generation of Sailors or other service members," said Newberry. "Explaining to them what we do is a lot of fun. They're curious about it, and creating a positive experience for them with the Navy can only help them better understand what we do now and what they might do in the future."

For more than 70 years, with the last two decades at Naval Air Station Pensacola, NATTC has been providing training and increasing readiness within the Naval Aviation Enterprise. The facility graduates approximately 15,000 Navy, Marine Corps and international students annually.

NATTC is part of the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training (CNATT), which provides single-site management for Navy and Marine Corps aviation technical training.

CNATT is the technical training agent for the Naval Aviation Enterprise, an organization designed to advance and sustain naval aviation warfighting capabilities at an affordable cost, and is the largest training center under the Naval Education and Training Command.

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