2024 Chapter Volunteer Award Winners

August 2024 — Congratulations to the following EAA chapter members who were awarded at EAA AirVenture 2024! These members were nominated by their chapters because of their outstanding efforts to better their chapters, EAA, and the general aviation community. Chapter volunteer awards were presented at the Chapter Leaders Breakfast held in the EAA Aviation Museum Founders’ Wing on Saturday, July 27, 2024.

Major Achievement Award

Dwayne Waters — EAA Chapter 724 — Merritt Island, Florida

Dwayne has been serving as president of Chapter 724 since January 2019. Since being elected president, he has accomplished many things that have improved his chapter. For starters, he engaged his board of directors to rewrite and update the bylaws for the chapter.

Under Dwayne’s leadership, Chapter 724 launched a variety of new activities for its members to participate in. These include chili cookoffs, low-country boils, poker runs, fly-outs, and the EAA Flying Start program. The chapter is highly involved in the EAA Young Eagles and Flying Start programs, hosting three Young Eagles rallies per year including one for kids from Gold Star military families who lost a family member in the line of duty.

Dwayne is always looking for new ways to get young people excited about aviation. Aside from Young Eagles, the chapter also sponsors youths to attend the EAA Air Academy, participates in the EAA Ray Aviation Scholarship, and provides its own scholarship for student pilots. Dwayne has served on Chapter 724’s scholarship committee since its inception and helped spearhead these scholarship efforts. His chapter also hosts a summer aviation camp for youths, where he serves as one of the camp’s instructors.

Under Dwayne’s leadership, Chapter 724 also participated in a Girls in Aviation event sponsored by the Florida Institute of Technology, and in the Florida Preparatory Academy’s Career and Aviation Day. These events allowed Dwayne and his chapter members to educate youths about aviation and the opportunities it provides.

Recently, Dwayne has been leading the way to getting a permanent home established for his chapter. After more than 40 years of meeting in borrowed spaces, Chapter 724 has started to work on building its own hangar at the local airport.

Outside of his chapter, Dwayne is heavily involved in aviation. He is a CFII and an A&P mechanic. He restored and flies a Piper Pacer that was converted from tricycle gear into a taildragger, and his airplane has won awards at SUN ‘n FUN. Dwayne started the Merritt Island Flying Club to give back to aviation by making affordable flying available. He is an instructor in the club and, as an A&P, maintains the club’s two aircraft. Dwayne has also served as a judge at National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) regional competitions for several years.

In his career, Dwayne worked for Lockheed Space Operations for many years, and he was one of the crew members who helped astronauts get into and out of the space shuttle. He was also a manager in the Orbiter Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center. After the retirement of the space shuttle, Dwayne worked for Embraer, the third-largest manufacturer of civil aircraft in the world, and he continues to work part time for them.

Congratulations, Dwayne!

Newsletter Editor Awards

Charlie Bates — EAA Chapter 129 — Bloomington, Illinois

Chapter 129’s newsletter, The Flypaper, has grown under Charlie’s editorship to a 15-20-page magazine. Each monthly issue includes articles about the chapter’s monthly gatherings, member milestones, builder updates, Young Eagles schedules and event reports, fly-out reports, FAASTeam reports, “Where are they now” sections highlighting past members, chapter president reports, aviation educational articles, local STEM activities, special articles about member activities around the chapter area, historic and interesting aviation stories, and much more.

The Flypaper is printed in color and emailed to chapter members and the leaders of other local aviation organizations. The quality of the newsletter has drawn attention from other local aviation groups complimenting the monthly publication.

Congratulations, Charlie!

Betty Dierwechter — EAA Chapter 410 — Geneseo, Illinois

Betty consistently does outstanding work with Chapter 410’s monthly newsletter. She initially became interested in helping the chapter because of her husband Daryl’s homebuilt aircraft project and Chapter 410 participation.

Betty always goes above and beyond to ensure that the members stay informed of upcoming activities and provides photos of recent chapter events so her newsletter is attractive and enjoyable to read. Betty keeps up with other chapter officers and gives them gentle reminders to send her information that she needs if they have fallen behind. Betty’s growth of the newsletter and her consistent and tenacious pursuit of a high-quality EAA chapter newsletter make her deserving of a Newsletter Editor Award this year!

Congratulations, Betty!

Dianna Moy — EAA Chapter 1041 — Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

When the chapter’s former newsletter editor passed away unexpectedly in late November 2022, Dianna immediately volunteered to fill a very large pair of shoes. Within a few months, she asked the members of Chapter 1041 about some ideas she had for the “look” of their newsletter, The Observer.

In the year and a half since taking the reins of being Chapter 1041’s newsletter editor, the publication has taken on more of a magazine format, with a colorful photo covering the entire front page and other internal changes that everyone loves. Dianna’s eye for making The Observer more visually appealing has enhanced the image of her chapter and all its activities. Potential members can’t help but be impressed when they look at the newsletter.

Congratulations, Dianna!

Adam Santic — EAA Chapter 75 — Quad Cities, Illinois/Iowa

Since June 2020, Adam Santic has been editor-in-chief of The Landings, Chapter 75’s newsletter. Prior to that, he assisted the previous editor for four years and has been a contributor of many articles and photographs.

Adam has dedicated himself to increasing the number of articles in The Landings, getting other people to submit articles, and increasing overall reader participation in each edition. In addition, he has published several special editions covering EAA AirVenture, and he made and assisted in making format changes so the newsletter is a better publication.

Adam has made sure that all articles are proofread and published in a timely manner and has printed articles from many members and other contributors. His overall commitment to getting The Landings published has led to a better-organized newsletter with a greater variety of articles, and a commitment to better the newsletter at each chance he has with a constant eye to professionalism.

Congratulations, Adam!

Web Editor Awards

Dave LaFaver — EAA Chapter 839 — Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania

Dave has put together an informative and easy-to-navigate website. He has ensured that Chapter 839’s website is welcoming and educates new people on what the chapter does, giving them a reason to visit the local airport and join the chapter. As explained on the chapter’s homepage, “Our mission is simple. We’re here to promote aviation by inviting the public to experience flight, and nurture their interest in aviation through workshops, aviation events and fun activities that bring the community together.” Dave ensures that the chapter’s website reflects this mission and depicts a vibrant aviation community.

Dave was not able to attend the Chapter Leaders Breakfast, so accepting the award on his behalf was Bob Kutzler from EAA Chapter 839. Congratulations, Dave!

Doug Volkmer — EAA Chapter 569 — Lincoln, Nebraska

Doug maintains a website that provides a wealth of information for chapter members and visitors. In addition to Chapter 569’s activities, the website also highlights other local and regional aviation events that members and visitors can attend. The chapter’s website also includes homebuilder reports, a tool crib, a store for chapter gear, and pilot resources such as weblinks for weather and navigation.

In addition to serving as web editor, Doug is also Chapter 569’s newsletter editor and helps run their monthly fly-in breakfast. He is totally dedicated to his chapter.

Congratulations, Doug!

Peyton Wolter — EAA Chapter 320 — Watertown, Wisconsin

Peyton joined Chapter 320 and jumped right in participating and volunteering. She completely redesigned and improved the old website, making it more attractive, cleaner, and easier to navigate, added links to multiple social media sites, and keeps it fresh and current by updating the content and adding new photos of chapter activities. The chapter’s website tracking figures show a significant increase in every category and metric since Peyton took over the role, and she deserves recognition for her efforts. Chapter 320 and its website are both in a better place because of Peyton’s work.

Congratulations, Peyton!

Learn more about these awards at EAA.org/ChapterAwards.