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Amelia Earhart : The Oldest Of Two Daughters

Decent Essays
Amelia Earhart Kennedie Weems Citizens Christian Academy Amelia Earhart In Atchinson, Kansas on July 24, 1897, the little girl that would soon grow up to be the first female to fly across the Atlantic Ocean was born. Amelia Earhart was the oldest of two daughters of Amy Otis Earhart and Edwin Stanton Earhart (Brown, 1985, p. 4). Earhart’s sister, Muriel, was born three years later. Their father was a lawyer who worked for the railroad. Earhart’s parents traveled nearly year-round with the father’s job, so the girls lived in Atchinson with their grandparents during the school year. However, the entire family did live together in Kansas City during the summer time (Brown, p. 5). Both girls were very active and loved to…show more content…
14). She then went to Ogontz, an all-girls boarding school near Philadelphia (Brown, p. 13). During her Christmas break, she went to visit her mother and sister. When she was walking down the street, she noticed some wounded soldiers passing her. In that very moment, school seemed completely unimportant to her, and she made her mind up to stay in Toronto and help in the hospitals (Brown, 1985, p. 13). Earhart took a Canadian Red Cross Course and became a certified nurse’s aide at Spandina Military Hospital. During her shift breaks, she would go to the flying field and watch the soldiers learn how to fly. Many of the soldiers made fun of her because she would ask them many questions, soaking in all the information she could (Brown, p. 13-14). In the fall of 1919, Earhart enrolled in Columbia University to study medicine. Unfortunately, she discovered that medicine was not the right fit for her and decided to change her major to medical research (Brown, 1985, p. 16). Earhart continued to badger her family about learning to fly, so in 1920 her father finally paid one dollar for a ten-minute airplane ride with Frank Hawks. She absolutely loved it, and that is where her determination to truly learn to fly was blossomed (Brown, p. 17). Earhart got a job to fund the flying lessons. Her teachers name was Neta Snook, but everyone called her “Snooky”. Neta taught Earhart everything from how to take off from the ground to
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