My daughter (14 yo) has just completed her first year in the ATC, and she's got a huge amount out of it. So much so that I am now chairman of the civilian committee. The squadron is very fortunate as it's just over the Thames from Benson, and three regular NCOs from Benson help run the training, and the NCA dad of a cadet does some leadership training with the cadet NCOs.
My observation is that having regular contact with regulars is very good for the cadets, but even more so for the officers! I can imagine that an ATC unit miles from any regular unit/contact could become introspective and possibly rather anal about trivial matters.