By Jessica Schaefer

EAA Ray Aviation scholar Claire Jenkinson has a passion for vintage aircraft  — one that matched another young pilot whose legacy she honored this year as she flew into AirVenture 2026.

Joey Ermel was a true AirVenture kid, having attended every year since birth, volunteering at the Blue Barn, and flying in with his grandfather in their Breezy N3AZ in 2014. He was the inaugural EAA Chapter 15 Ray Aviation scholar, earning his private pilot certificate in July 2019 out of Lewis University Airport in Romeoville, Illinois. He made history as the first Ray Scholar to fly Young Eagles.

After Joey’s death by motorcycle accident in 2021, his mother Aymee Zimmerman formed the Joey Ermel “Do Your Impeccable Best” Tailwheel Endorsement Scholarship through EAA.
The scholarship looks to encourage and support the spirit of volunteerism and passion for sharing aviation that defined Joey Ermel. The first recipient serves rural communities in Alaska; the second supports aviation mentoring for special-needs and low-income youths.

This year’s scholar, Claire Jenkinson, 19, received her private pilot certificate as a Ray Aviation scholar from EAA Vintage Chapter 16 in Gardner, Kansas.

This year she flew her vintage 1946 Aeronca Champ 7AC to AirVenture for the first time with the help of her safety pilot and CFI. Claire owns a one-third share of the Champ, which the group restored and recently updated with an 85-hp electric starter.

Claire has been working to help share the history of aviation with others and hopes to begin restoration soon on a piece of local history, a 1941 Aeronca Chief.

Aymee says Claire is the perfect candidate for the third year of the Ermel scholarship, as she embodies the spirit of aviation volunteerism and doing, as Joey always did, their “Impeccable Best.”