Though he won’t scale buildings or fight crime when he visits European bases this month, the arrival of Spider-Man heralds the start of this year’s U.S. Air Forces in Europe Extreme Summer program.
Extreme Summer participants can earn points for prizes by seeing Spider-Man or any of the five other Extreme Summer role models, volunteering, taking an Armed Forces Recreation Center trip or working at any Morale, Welfare and Recreation facility.
Spider-Man begins his tour this week at Lajes Field, The Azores. Other role models include: Olympic swimmer Dara Torres, Pittsburgh Steeler Hines Ward, retired NASCAR driver Ernie Irvan and Olympic speed skater Apolo Ohno.
“Apolo Ohno has a great story,” said Lynda Yezzy-Valentine, the USAFE marketing and entertainment coordinator. “He was a young kid without direction and he found skating and a couple of short years later, he was an Olympic medalist.”
Extreme Summer officially begins June 1 and ends Aug. 31. Originally designed to give Air Force children something to do, the program is now open to children and adults of every service.
“There are thousands of ways that you can earn points,” Yezzy-Valentine said. “If you have a second job working for an AAFES facility or MWR facility, you can earn 50 points for every five hours you work. If you volunteer at the library or any other MWR facility, you get 50 points for every one hour.”
In an attempt to include both families and single servicemembers, there are four competition categories: youth ages 8-12, teens ages 13-18, E1-E5 and their spouses and a final category, which includes E6-E9, all officers, Department of Defense civilians and their spouses.
At the end of the program, participants with the most points in the top three percent of their categories will qualify for the grand prize drawing and runner-up prizes.
The grand prizes for the youth and teen categories are all-expenses paid trips to Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla., which include visits to all four Disney parks including Epcot Center, the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and Disney/MGM Studios.
Adult grand prizes are round-trip airfare, hotel accommodations, rental cars and VIP tickets to the Atlanta Motor Speedway, where winners will visit the pits, meet NASCAR drivers and have VIP seating.
Spider-Man’s appearances
• Thursday, Lajes Field, The Azores, Portugal• Saturday, Ramstein Air Base, Germany• Sunday, Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany• Monday, Klein Brogel Air Base and Geilenkirchen NATO Base, Germany• May 19 RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall, England• May 20 Menwith Hill, England
For more information on times and locations, contact your base’s Extreme Summer headquarters or visit www.extremesummer.com
