Civil Air Patrol’s Godsell receives Amelia Earhart Award
JOPLIN, Mo. – Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Cadet Captain Faith Abigail Godsell received the Amelia Earhart Award on Saturday at the Joplin Regional Airport.
Godsell was presented with the award by Missouri Wing Commander, Colonel Jennifer Smith, at a special meeting of the Col Travis Hoover Composite Squadron of the Missouri Wing, Civil Air Patrol, US Air Force Auxiliary.
The ceremony took place in the Community Room of the Joplin Regional Airport General Aviation Terminal, 5009 Dennis Weaver Drive.
The Earhart Award marks completion of Phase III of the CAP Cadet Program, recognizing sustained excellence in all four areas of cadet life: leadership, aerospace, fitness, and character. Further, Cadet Godsell has passed comprehensive examinations on leadership and aerospace topics.
After earning the Earhart Award, only Completion of Phase IV and the prestigious Spaatz Award remains for the cadet to complete all phases of the CAP cadet program.
Once a cadet earns the Earhart Award, he or she is promoted to the grade of Cadet Captain and is challenged to lead and serve junior ranking cadets not just in the local squadron, but around the wing (state) as well.
Godsell serves as Cadet Commander, and as a staff officer for the annual Missouri Wing cadet encampment at the Missouri Military Academy in Mexico, MO.
AMELIA EARHART
Born in Atchison, Kansas, Amelia Earhart developed a passion for adventure at a young age, steadily gaining flying experience from her twenties.
In 1928, Earhart became the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic by airplane (accompanying pilot Wilmer Stultz), for which she achieved celebrity status. In 1932, piloting a Lockheed Vega 5B, Earhart made a nonstop solo transatlantic flight, becoming the first woman to achieve such a feat.
She received the United States Distinguished Flying Cross for this accomplishment. During an attempt at becoming the first woman to complete a circumnavigational flight of the globe, Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean in 1937.