Delta’s ‘Dream Flight’ Carries Aviation Students to Johnson Space Center

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) and the Organization of Black Airline Pilots (OBAP) today (July 23, 2008) celebrate the ninth annual ‘Dream Flight’ carrying more than 150 students to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Delta co-sponsors OBAP’s Aviation Career Education (ACE) camp – two, week-long summer programs for youth, ages 14 - 18, who have an interest in pursuing careers in aviation. During the camp, held primarily at Delta’s world headquarters in Atlanta, qualified flight instructors teach students aviation history, aerodynamics, meteorology, navigation and flight simulator orientation. Select graduates from ACE Camp are invited back the following year to participate in Flight Line, an intensive tutorial focused specifically on pilot training, including allowing students to perform solo flights during their week-long training.

As part of the final week of training, all camp students participate in a day-long field trip to an aviation facility in the United States. Past trips include visits to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Fla., and most recently the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.

"We are proud to continue Delta's tradition of educating future professionals," said Stephen Dickson, Delta’s senior vice president - Flight Operations. "Regardless of whether these teens become pilots, flight attendants or something else, we know that their time at camp has given them a bigger platform to pursue their educational and employment dreams."

Delta donated a charter flight to carry the aviation students, many of whom are taking their first commercial flight. After arriving in Houston on Flight 9997, operated by Delta using a Boeing 757, students will enjoy a guided tour of the historic space center, complete with briefings from active NASA astronauts.

In the brief ACE camp/Flight Line history, Delta and OBAP have exposed more than 1000 students to careers in aviation. Currently, six former ACE camp attendees are studying aviation at the U.S. Air Force and Naval Academies, and four other camp alumni are commercial pilots.
On Friday, July 25, all three camps will take part of the 2008 graduation ceremonies held in the Delta Training Center.

Usher's Camp New Look 2008 Continues to Empower and Educate Inner-City Youth

PRNewswire/ -- Grammy Award winning entertainer and philanthropist Usher Raymond IV, in conjunction with his New Look Foundation, will welcome 126 underserved youths from throughout the country to the Atlanta area for this year's Camp New Look. Held July 14-27 at Georgia Tech University in Atlanta, Camp New Look is a two-week summer camp which empowers children and educates them about the business aspects of the sports and entertainment industries. During the free camp, kids ages 12 to 17 will participate in workshops and seminars that will help them to enrich their skills in various areas including New Look's core components -- music, dance, sports, acting, and video production.

Now in its fourth consecutive year, the 2008 Camp New Look curriculum will include the fundamentals of launching a new fragrance. New Look campers will develop and launch a fragrance for an NHL All-Star athlete, getting help and advice from the executive team at Liz Claiborne Cosmetics. Campers will be taught the fundamentals of manufacturing, engineering, marketing, promoting and launching the fragrance. New Look has expanded this program and has also partnered with the WNBA's Atlanta Dream to provide internships with New Look alumni. The joint ventures with the NHL and WNBA will provide Camp New Look graduates with the chance to gain behind-the-scenes insights from the best in the business, while also allowing them to explore and enhance their talents and skills.

"This year's camp is going to be bigger and more exciting than ever," said Usher. "We really strive to provide our campers with the best support and most beneficial experience available. I want to move beyond the exposure of Camp New Look and create a true career pipeline for underserved kids so that they can turn their experiences into careers in multi-billion dollar industries."

Additionally, campers will take field trips to various companies and organizations that are designed to enhance their overall understanding of business. Special guests are also expected to visit the camp to share their professional experiences. Previous guests include music stars Ludacris, Omarion and Lloyd, and athletes Allen Rossum (Atlanta Falcons) and Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic).

On Friday, July 25, Usher and Charles Ellis, store director of Tiffany & Co. Atlanta, will host a private, star-studded reception at the lavish Tiffany & Co. at Phipps Plaza in Atlanta. The celebration will also mark the release of Usher's uCast -- a bi-weekly online series that features an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at Usher's life as a recording star, philanthropist and businessman. uCast is an educational podcast series that receives over 35,000 downloads weekly. Usher's uCast has enjoyed immense popularity, reaching as high as No.7 on I-Tunes music podcasts.

"uCast is really more than a podcast," said Usher. "It's an educational tool for learning how business in the entertainment industry really works. It allows New Look to distribute its message to thousands of viewers each week!"

New Look has served more than 1,300 teens from across the U.S. through Camp New Look in Atlanta and mini-camps in New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Milwaukee.