Back when he taught ROTC at an inner-city Jacksonville, Florida, high school, retired Marine Corps Col. Jack Howell took over one of the school’s fledgling, ineffective, foundering magnet programs that wasn’t exactly getting much in the way of attention or support from financially strapped parents and turned it around. He taught students (who passed his rigorous entry examination) the basics of aviation, and got them time in a trainer.

“After I did this for 10 years in Jacksonville I got burnout,” Howell says, “and we created Teens-in-Flight.” Teens-in-Flight (www.teens-in-flight.com) is aimed toward kids who come from a low-income or high-risk background, or whose parents were killed or wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan. “This helps in the healing process,” he explains. “At the military funeral an officer makes a speech and then walks away. Nobody was doing anything for the kids that survived their parents’ death in combat, and the trauma associated with that or a wounded parent who’s no longer 100 percent.”

Learning flying would certainly give them something else to concentrate on, and at the same time they could prepare for a career. The kids are required to be 13 or older, have a recommendation from their principal or superintendent, undergo drug screening, an oral interview, and write 1,000 words on “Why I want to fly.”

“We give them a stiff entry,” Howell says. “I run it like a military program. It’s serious business. I tell them ‘You’re supposed to come in at 3 o’clock and if you come in at 3:01, by God, go home.’ Attention to detail is required in the cockpit. You don’t get a second chance.” He gets results: The students are required to score 90 or higher three times on the practice test before taking the real FAA exam. Of his original 16 kids, all have completed ground school and have logged flight time.

Michael Naughton, 16, a cancer survivor who comes from a lower-income family, entered the program a year ago, at age 15. “It’s definitely a cool experience,” he says. “I never thought I could be in aviation because it’s a tough thing to get into, but the opportunity presented itself and I got a hold of it.”

Howell is concentrating on expanding Teens-in-Flight around the military bases in Florida, Colorado, and Texas. “Between myself and my vice president Steve Price, we put 20 to 30 percent of our own cash into this thing,” he says.—Phil Scott