The ARRL School Club Roundup was a way of life for Chris WRØTE when he was teaching high school chemistry in Vermont. For half of his 40 years at the school, he also worked with students who belonged to the school's amateur radio club, K1BBS. The effort paid off big in February of 2014 when K1BBS became the top-scorer in the senior high school category.

Now retired, Chris lives in Colorado where he is the education director for the Estes Valley Amateur Radio Club. He is also one of the control operators for WØEPS, a student club that got its start at the Estes Park Middle School a few years ago. One of the teachers had asked the hams to get the kids involved in radio.

"Involved" doesn't even begin to describe it. The young teenagers now have several ARRL School Club Roundups to their credit but as Chris told Newsline, they don't really need an excuse to get on the air. In one recent week, he said, a total of 58 students in 6th- through 8th-grade logged 113 contacts in 29 states and 2 Canadian provinces. You can find them most of the time on 10 metres, if it's open; otherwise try contacting them on the 20-metre band.

Chris told Newsline [quote] "The secret to getting students on the air is exactly that ... get the kids on the air. Ham Radio is not a 'demonstration' activity ... it's a participation activity. Sit them down ... put a mic in their hands ... have them call CQ ... and see what happens." [endquote]

What happens is deceptively simple: The kids find their way in radio and they also find their voice. In Estes Park, they're not waiting around for another School Club Roundup to make things happen - but when it does arrive, they'll be ready. Whenever they key the mic, these kids already feel like champions.