Summer so far!!

Achilles Hennessy

Hello FMA! In the recent weeks I have had quite the eventful end of school year and beginning of summer!

By the time my senior year ended, I had been awarded the Music Student of the Year award and the National Choral Award! I also conducted my own choral composition at the End of Year Concert! “I Choose to Sing” was a major hit among the students, parents, and several members of our school district music program and even the university here in Wyoming! It was an exhilarating thrill that I hope I will get to experience with more of my compositions. At the bottom of this post, there is a link to the performance video!

After my last day of school, I left for the WCC program orientation in Laramie, WY! After completing that, I returned home to walk at graduation and the left that Monday to help spearhead a battle against invasive species in Grand Teton National Park! The really cool part about that was the partnership that we had with the Airport. Due to an invasive grass species growing in the sage fields near Jackson Hole Airport, Birds were migrating to the newly formed grassy fields by the airport, causing collisions. By removing the grass, we remove the appeal that the area has to the birds and protect the airspace! I got to see planes ranging from Boeing 737’s to old Cessna 150s to CV-22 Ospreys! My favorite thing was telling the rest of the crew and park service staff what the V-22 was and what it was doing as it made practice runs around the airport!

After our time up there, I came home to Cheyenne and spent quality time with my family and friends before leaving again on another hitch to Guernsey State Park. In Guernsey we did simple trail building. We restored trails around the whole park. In doing so, I got to see my very favorite military aircraft! The C-130 Hercules has been one of my favorite aircraft since I got a model of it in the 5th grade. Watching its versatility during each day that they would fly to Camp Guernsey left me and my crew intrigued and impressed. On one day we would watch them drop supplies out the back. Then, two days later, they came back and practiced firefighting. It’s a plane I would love to fly after my college education!

Once I returned, I got to spend some overdue quality time with my YMCA special needs kids in the pool and on the soccer field! They were so happy to see me after being gone from them for 3 weeks. As usual, I had a blast! I went to bed and woke up bright and early to take a flight lesson with my local flight school, Wings of Wyoming! I got to meet an amazing flight instructor named Jared who got me back underway after being away from the cockpit for school. Later that evening, Mr. Zapp and I discussed some networking objectives, including starting Hangar Jams here at Cheyenne Regional Airport!

I’m excited for what the future holds for not only me, but all of my fellow FMA members!

Talk to you all real soon!

-Achilles Hennessy