Whit,
Its cool to see other kids like myself that have the RV bug. I am 19 now but I got started working on an RV-12 when I was 15 through the
TeenFlight program. Now I am helping mentor the second group and helping a local builder with his RV-9a on the weekends. If you look at the blog you will see that I have been fortunate enough to work with some pretty interesting people. I know there are efforts in place to try and get the concept of TeenFlight out there and there are a few other groups that have picked up on it. I know of a group in Indiana that calls themselves Eagles Nest that is also working on an RV-12 through their school, and I believe there is another group somewhere else. It would be cool to see even more groups like this start up. Basically, the program has a group of teenage kids building an airplane with the guidance of mentors. Obviously no one person owns it, but we all have access to it to fly it when we wish as long as the pilots are available.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I think if you were able to talk to the right people and if you got enough youth interested you could have a similar program in your neck of the woods.