by Dot Cannon

“Make some noise!” exhorted the Anaheim Ducks’ DJ Jojo on Monday morning.

Obediently, more than sixteen thousand elementary students–AND their teachers–obliged.   Honda Center resounded with whoops and cheers.

And the Ducks’ twentieth annual “First Flight Field Trip” classroom segment was off to an exuberant start.

As the largest event of the Anaheim Ducks’ S.C.O.R.E. educational program, “First Flight Field Trip” gives students a unique perspective on STEAM concepts.   Players and volunteers demonstrate principles of science, technology, engineering, art and math–as they apply to the sport of hockey.

Creativity is high.  So is the sense of fun and entertainment, with every year’s “First Flight Field Trip” having a different theme.

For 2020, the theme was “Light the Lamp”!  Students would spend the morning exploring what’s involved in lighting hockey’s red goal light.

Energy in general, and electricity in particular, was the focus of the day’s activities.

On the “playground”

Like every “First Flight Field Trip”, Monday morning’s event was divided into two segments.

From eight to eleven that morning, Honda Center’s parking lot became the “Playground”, with more than 60 hands-on STEAM exhibits.  Local educational organizations, along with civic-minded corporations, partnered with the Ducks to present concepts in an entertaining and relevant way.

Young participants could create light-up pictures at the PBS SoCal booth.

“Thomas Edison tried 1,000 times to make the light bulb (work),” one staffer encouraged a visitor, when her circuit didn’t work immediately.

Nearby, University of LaVerne volunteers showed students how to make “squishy circuits”, with conductive clay.

Across the way, Lucero Marquez and Leo Rico staffed the Southern California Edison mobile energy unit.   Their diorama, “Hazard Hamlet”, drew a lot of interest.

“Hazard Hamlet” illustrated various hazards that can lead to shock or electrification.   Lucero discussed each one.  Meanwhile, Leo used a circuit board to “light up” the person depicted in the scenario–accompanied by a “zapping” sound.

Retrieving a cat from a power-line pole, going after a softball near a high-voltage generator and overloaded electrical sockets were just three of the situations “Hazard Hamlet” illustrated.

“(It’s dated but still effective”), Leo said, noting that “Hazard Hamlet” had been in use for 19 years.  (“It shows a radio near the bathtub–today, kids use their cell phones.  But the message is still the same.”)

“What do you do when a power line falls on your car?” Lucero asked a group of students who’d come over to see the exhibit.  “Do you stay inside, or leave?”

“Stay inside,” one young man contributed.

“That’s right (unless the car is on fire),” Lucero replied.  “Some adults get that one wrong.”

An “electrifying” presentation

At 8:30, the day’s first thirty-minute presentation, “Electrifying Science”, happened on the main stage.

“A lot of people think, sports, science, those are two different things,” began science specialist Paul Pooler.  (“But sports and science go together.”)

Paul asked for volunteers for several different demonstrations.   First, he had students create a “human circuit”.

Static electricity was next.  Paul asked one student from the crowd to come up and keep his hand on the globe.  Static electricity literally raised the young man’s hair….

…as it did, a few minutes later, with a doll!

And another set of volunteers helped to light up shoes!

Up until 11:00, Paul’s “Electrifying Science” presentations on the the main stage, would alternate with  presentations on “Hockey Scholar Trivia”, with EverFi Schools Manager Mariana Biagioni.

Meanwhile, more attendees kept arriving.

A capacity crowd

As a unique event, free to Southern California schools, “First Flight Field Trip” books to capacity–and has a waitlist–annually.

“We had 10,000 students arrive in fifteen minutes,” said Anaheim Ducks Fan Development Coordinator Gabriel Alamillo.

The “Playground” was filling with students.  More and more attendees were exploring the exhibits.

One of the most popular?  The “Static Racers”!

Participants raced soda cans to the finish line–powered by static electricity when they rubbed the cans on their clothing–or their hair!

Meanwhile, at the Energy Coalition exhibit, Climate Corps fellows Jack Hawley and Jasmine Pineta were showing students how to power up these miniature turbines.

They were also offering literature on PEAK, an environmental STEM program which provides free educational resources.

Another popular exhibit: the Ocean Institute’s “Turning Turbines” exhibit, where volunteers helped young visitors construct and test wind turbines.

Nearby, Orange Coast College’s STEM Center hosted their “Alternating Currents” exhibit.  OCC staffers showed visitors how a Tesla coil works…

…and taught them how to create moving “bugs” from toothbrushes, using a circuit and coin battery.

In separate areas of the lot, speed math (as applied to hockey, of course!), UC Health’s “Mind, Body, Electricity” display on heart health and general well-being, and ice-rink building, courtesy of LEGO, had the students absorbed.

Showtime

At 11:00, the time had come for Part Two of the 2020 “First Flight Field Trip”.

Students trooped into the ice arena for the “Classroom” segment.

But this experience would be unlike any class they had ever had.

First, they had the opportunity to watch the Ducks in a brief practice.

Then, high-energy music pumped from the sound system.  A video began the presentation, starring the Ducks’ mascot, Wild Wing, and Sammy, the day’s First Flight host.

And the scenario: Wild Wing, after scoring an amazing hockey shot, is disappointed that the goal lamp failed to light for him.  Now, the problem: how to “Light the Lamp”?

“Wing, these kids can help us out!  Let’s go meet ’em!” Sammy concluded, on the video.

Cheers resounded through the arena as Sammy and Wild Wing appeared on the ice.

Sammy and in-arena host Ainsley showed their audience how learning about electricity could become a team sport.

“When the Ducks come out here, they’re going to be divided into three teams,” Sammy explained.  “Each (team) will be assigned to a section out here in the arena.”

The teams, he continued, would be competing in several different skills challenges.  And at stake?  Free fish tacos for the winning team!

Ainsley, Sammy and DJ Jojo divided the stadium audience into three teams, as designated by the Ducks’ colors: Black, White and Orange.   Each section of the audience had a different, color-designated team.

The game was on!

The lessons

For the First Flight Field Trip and “Light the Lamp”, the Ducks drew some ingenious parallels between their team and the way electrical circuits work.

“You guys see anything here that’s in the shape of a closed loop?” Sammy asked.  “Shout it out.”

The students were quick to point out the hoop Wild Wing held.

As the lights went down, the Ducks skated on the ice–demonstrating the motion of electrons.

Each of the four skills competitions, among the Ducks, would make a different point about what would be needed, in an electrical circuit, to “Light the Lamp”.

After each round, Ainsley gave one selected student a “pop quiz”, in game-show format.  Following her question, different members of the Ducks came onto the video board with possible answers.  And the correct answer, meant the student and their row–or even their classroom–received a nice prize!

Among the day’s lessons were an analogy between the range of player skills needed to “help a puck reach its full potential” and the way circuits work.

“Like a hockey team, circuits are made up of their own players, called electrical components,” Sammy said.  “They can do amazing things with electrons that flow through them.”

Hockey components

One component which Sammy, joined by Ducks Defensemen Erik Gudbranson and Jacob Larsson spotlighted, was the resistor.

“Sammy, this is our favorite component,” Gudbranson commented.  “We’re big fans of anything that plays defense.”

In the skill competition that followed, guests had the opportunity to see some defense plays.

Each player was assigned to a circle of cones.  The goal: to defend them against an opposing-team player who had ten seconds to knock the pucks off the cones.

Some were more successful than others!

A final component was the battery.  Sammy drew one more parallel as Ducks forwards Max Jones, Sam Steel and Danton Heinen demonstrated.

“It’s like Sam and Dan are the battery, the pucks are the electrons, and this rink is its circuit,” Sammy explained as the forwards took shots and the students cheered them on.

Then, Max Jones lit the lamp.

“You did it!  You (and our players) helped  Wild Wing learn how to light that lamp!” Sammy congratulated the gathered audience after the final pop quiz, a few minutes later.

A Duck’s triumph

But, the show wasn’t over.

“You want to take that shot again!” Sammy said to Wild Wing.  “Now that you know how to really light the lamp…

“Kids, do you think that Wild Wing should take that shot again?”

Cheers echoed through the stadium.

“All right, Wing, the kids have spoken!”

And Wild Wing skated into position…

“Score by Wild Wing, unassisted!”

Of course, this time the lamp lit.  And the triumphant Duck made a victory “ice angel”.

One more bit of business remained.

“Let’s go ahead and take a look at our scoreboard, and see which team wins,” Sammy said.  “Who’s getting free tacos?”

To the sound of cheering, the scoreboard revealed Team Black as the winner in a very close race.

“Wait a second, Wild Wing,” Sammy said.  “Isn’t it a good idea…EVERYBODY should get free tacos?”

To cheering from the guests, the Anaheim Ducks’ twentieth “First Flight Field Trip” came to a close.  It had been an imaginative and entertaining presentation.

Students now had real-world understanding of some complex concepts.-

And they’d had fun learning, courtesy of Wild Wing and company, through the Anaheim Ducks’ unique S.C.O.R.E program

Looking forward to 2021

Now–what if you are an educator who would like more information on the 2021 “First Flight Field Trip”?  It’s already in the planning stages!

This is the time to contact the Anaheim Ducks’ S.C.O.R.E. program, according to Anaheim Ducks Manager of Fan Development Marketing Jason Cooper.  In our earlier interview, Jason mentioned that the Ducks will put schools on their email list, and contact them in August.

In addition to the field trip, the Anaheim Ducks’ S.C.O.R.E. program comprises numerous free programs and resources for educators.   (S.C.O.R.E. is an acronym for “Scholastic Curriculum of Recreation and Education”.  Here’s the link for more information.).

S.C.O.R.E. provides workbooks, free of charge, for First Flight.  In addition, Jason said, this year S.C.O.R.E. sent students kits with which they could create an electrical circuit.  Additional S.C.O.R.E. programs include The Captain’s Challenge, a fifth-grade physical fitness challenge, “Reading is the Goal” for fourth graders, and Street Hockey, a physical-education module for elementary students.

Have fun–and go, Ducks!