Hi!  I'm Neil Rapp, WB9VPG.  I am an instructional designer and chemistry instructor in Union, KY just across the river from Cincinnati.  Currently, I'm teaching at Xavier University in Cincinnati and Bluegrass Community & Technical College in Lexington, KY.  For the last 28 years, I've taught high school chemistry and sponsored ham radio clubs at Bloomington High School South (K9SOU) in Bloomington, IN and Harrison High School (WA9HHS) in Evansville, IN.  We were extremely active in contesting and School Club Roundup until COVID happened.  I was the president of the University of Southern Indiana (W9MOK) ARC in Evansville, IN during undergrad.  I'm a graduate of TI-1 with WA8SME and TI-2 with N8MS.  I'm also a member of the ARISS-US Education Committee and the IARU Region 2 Youth Working Group (YOTA). I've been a ham since age 5, so youth in ham radio is my passion.

For the last 2 years, I've been organizing Youth on the Air (YOTA) for the Americas.  I was the camp director for our first camp in 2021, and will be the director for 2022 before handing the responsibilities off to the youth and stepping into a consulting role.  Our focus with YOTA is retaining and building a community of our licensed youth in ham radio, primarily high school and college students so far.  In the longer range plan, we hope to offer some camps for the 10-15 year old range as well. We are currently in December YOTA month, a special event around the world with all operators under the age of 26.  If you haven't seen the video highlights from camp, check us out on YouTube at Youth on the Air!  Our website is youthontheair.org.

73,
Neil WB9VPG