Weekend Activities: April 26-28

Friday, April 26th                 

1830-2130                            Ice Skating

Saturday, April 27th

1130-1500                            Cadets Choice

1800-2200                            Movie Run

Sunday, April 28th       

0730-1600                            Disneyland California Adventure

Campus Beautification for Earth Day

–Calling all ANA employees and Cadets:

FROM THE DESK OF THE COMMANDANT:

Today: National Arbor Day

Trees afford us many pleasures. In the spring, their buds let us know warmer weather is on the way. Their summer leaves provide ample shade on a hot day. Have you ever joyfully jumped into a pile of crisp colorful leaves in the fall? And in the winter, tree branches offer shelter to wildlife for our viewing pleasure. Each year in April, National Arbor Day encourages us to celebrate and plant trees. The observance takes place each year on the last Friday in April.  

Trees are more than signals of the changing season. They provide vital protection for the Earth’s topsoil from erosion, oxygen, and homes for wildlife. Trees also are a renewable resource that provides a variety of materials for building, fuel, and office supplies. When we plant trees in our yard, we improve our enjoyment of our outdoor living spaces and our overall quality of life. 

National Arbor Day celebrates all these things and aims for American generations to enjoy all the benefits trees have to offer.

Today In History: Polio vaccine trials begin

On April 26, 1954, the Salk polio vaccine field trials, involving 1.8 million children, begin at the Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Virginia. Children in the United States, Canada and Finland participated in the trials, which used for the first time the now-standard double-blind method, whereby neither the patient nor attending doctor knew if the inoculation was the vaccine or a placebo.

One year later, on April 12, 1955, researchers announced the vaccine was safe and effective and it quickly became a standard part of childhood immunizations in America. In the ensuing decades, polio vaccines would all but wipe out the highly contagious disease in the Western Hemisphere.