Airshow performer Greg Poe’s “Elevate Your Life” program got off to a roaring start in Tucson earlier this month when he made his presentation to more than 670 students at Booth-Fickett Magnet School and Naylor Middle School in Tucson, Ariz., during the week of the Davis-Monthan A&A Days airshow. Two students, winners of an essay contest put on by the program, got rides in Poe’s airshow plane and chase plane.
“This is an outstanding and uplifting opportunity for our kids to see that real success and happiness can come from hard work,” said Naylor Middle School Principal Donald Calhoun. “We are so pleased to have this remarkable man show our kids that they can have real success in their lives by believing in themselves and focusing on their goals.”
“We have a goal to reach out and present to over 10,000 kids this year during the 2010 airshow season,” said Poe. “Our program is designed to help kids reach their dreams and see the potential in themselves, and hopefully that awakened drive and passion helps keep them away from drugs and other bad influences that can wreck their futures.”
Poe is a world-renowned aerobatic performer and unlimited aerobatic champion. He started with humble beginnings in Boise, Idaho, and discovered his passion for flying at an early age. Poe said he relentlessly pursued his dream with hard work and focused determination and now he is living that dream, promoting green energy in his ethanol-powered Fagen MX2 show plane.
Poe’s Elevate Your Life program, the action arm of the Ryan J. Poe Foundation, is a youth outreach program designed to share his story of hard work and accomplishment with middle school aged children all over North America. The program came about as a result of losing his son Ryan to heroin addiction in August, 2002. Poe and his team are scheduled at 24 airshows this year, with one to two Elevate Your Life presentations planned at each stop. The Ryan J. Poe Foundation is a 501 (c) 3 charitable organization.
For more information: 208-473-0923, GregPoe.com and RyanJPoeFoundation.org.
