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The endeavor began three years ago in the heart of\nPontotoc County when an educator from Ada Public Schools, Paula Kedy, Executive\nDirector Of Academics & Instruction, was approached by their local\nExperimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Chapter to speak to elementary school\nstudents about aviation. The chapter shared concerns in relation to their aging\npilot community and the need for the next legacy generation of potential\naviators to explore flight through the newly rehabilitated Ada Municipal\nAirport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From that small suggestion, EAA offered to pay for Kedy\nto visit an Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) symposium in\nWashington State at the Boeing high school campus. At the end of the symposium, AOPA encouraged\nschools to sign up for the You Can Fly Initiative. Ada Public Schools was the first of 29\nschools in the nation to field test the AOPA High School Aviation Curriculum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AOPA, the world’s largest aviation community, identified\na gap in aviation youth education and instituted an effort to work with high\nschools directly, hoping to create a diverse group of students willing to\nexplore aviation. Through their program, they are targeting students that have\nnever been made aware that a career as a pilot or a drone operator is\ncompletely within reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After initiating the AOPA curriculum, Kedy immediately\nbegan building an aviation lab within the high school through the Aerospace and\nAviation Education Grant program administered by the Oklahoma Aeronautics\nCommission. With this program, Ada has\nleveraged new partnerships with American Airlines, General Aviation\nModifications, Inc. (GAMI), other industry partners, and higher education\ninstitutes, all in an effort to encourage students to learn more about the\naviation and aerospace industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During this cultivation period, Ada Public Schools\nrecognized the asset of the program and started with the history of aviation at\nthe 9th grade level. The curriculum is designed for educators to use in a\nclassroom setting and runs parallel to Next Generation Science Standards and\nState Standards for Mathematics. Now, Oklahoma currently ranks 3rd in the\nnation insofar as the number of schools teaching the AOPA curriculum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each pathway is four years, allowing schools to choose to\nimplement one or more, or select individual courses to use as standalone\nelectives. The difficulty of the course increases each consecutive year\nexpanding upon knowledge required to become a private pilot or Unmanned Ariel\nSystems (UAS) pilot. Measuring their successes with their students, the school\nextended the program to their Pre-K students ensuring younger generations could\nprepare to take the high school aviation classes. By doing this they have\neffectively created a career pathway for their students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Victor Bird, director the Commission believes that\nthrough industry partnerships and through outreach to educators, parents, and\nyouth, they can inform young people that skilled labor jobs in aviation and\naerospace range in pay from $40,000 to $80,000, and can support a very good\nquality of life in Oklahoma. \u201cSkilled workers that are performing a heavy\nmaintenance check on a 737 at the American Airlines Base or a B-52 at Tinker\nAFB aren\u2019t just repairing an aircraft, they are in the business of saving\nlives, and in the latter case, are helping to ensure our national security.\nSuch workers are builders. They make the concepts that scientists and engineers\ndesign, realities,\u201d said Bird, a national leader in aviation and aerospace\npolicy. Bird believes that by any and all means possible, the state must\neffectively communicate their message to parents, young people, and\nteachers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission\u2019s Aviation Education\nCoordinator, Adam Fox, wants to see at least 10% of the high schools across the\nstate teaching this curriculum within the next 4 years. \u201cOklahoma\u2019s second\nlargest – fastest growing industry will benefit tremendously from having our\neducators teaching about opportunities within the aviation and aerospace\nindustry. The Aeronautics Commission has invested $60,000 into Ada Public\nSchool aviation programs over the span of three fiscal years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the spread of the AOPA program to other Oklahoma\nschools, in the spring of 2019, Sherri McKibbin, a science teacher from Sand\nSprings High School contacted Fox with a concern. She felt that her students\ninvolved in extra-curricular activities were reluctant to take the AOPA course\nbecause of the high demand the curriculum requires. She was looking to see if\nthere was anything that the Aeronautics Commission could do change how the\nState Department of Education classified the AOPA high school course work. From there, Fox began connecting the key\nparticipants to address the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fox said, \u201cIn my high school career path, I had one\nchoice that was my own. I was asked if I\nwanted to take chemistry or physics. My dream early in life was to go into the\nmilitary as a pilot. So, I chose\nphysics.\u201d Fox, who served 8 years in military aviation and holds a private\npilot license, continued, \u201cThis curriculum will allow students to make career\ndecisions earlier in life. We see many\npeople now days with little vector or knowledge of what they may want to do to\nearn a living as an adult. This curriculum\nopens the door to many possibilities in aviation and aerospace; far beyond\nbecoming a pilot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The effort to streamline the process for schools to\ninitiate the AOPA program led to several meetings including a meeting with the\nState Superintendent of Public Instruction, Joy Hofmeister, and staff from the\nState Department of Education. The team\nis currently working toward accepting the curriculum as a core science credit\nso that students are less reluctant to pursue the course. In launching the new\nstandards, it opens the possibility to have an influx of students, allowing\nthem to focus their high school career on aviation and aerospace if they choose\nwhich will prepare them for a career in aviation and aerospace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have seen great success with aviation and aerospace\nprograms in schools, where students are clamoring for more opportunities to\nlearn about one of Oklahoma\u2019s fastest growing industries. Meaningful and\ninnovative business and education partnerships like the one between AOPA and Ada\nPublic Schools are at the heart of Individual Career Academic Planning, a new\nstatewide initiative allowing students to discover and begin building a pathway\nto their desired careers well before they graduate from high school,\u201d said\nHofmeister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With all of these efforts combined, along with a\nwell-designed public education machine, the endeavor is gaining the much-needed\nlift to foster future generations to become a successful workforce within the\naviation and aerospace industry. Students across Oklahoma are learning about\naviation and aerospace through curriculum in the classrooms, participating in\nhands-on STEM activities with a focus in aviation and UAS technology, and\nacquiring first-hand experience with industry partners. Fox explains, \u201cWith the\nmultiple cogs we now have in place, I cannot help but realize we are making the\nfirst major step in the right direction to close the skills gap within our\nworkers while addressing the pilot shortage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AOPA\u2019s Executive Director, Elizabeth Tennyson, of the You\nCan Fly Initiative, who recognizes the pilot shortage and need for skilled\nworkers in the aviation and aerospace industry, stated, \u201cThere\u2019s never been a\nbetter time for young people to explore aviation careers. We are facing global\nshortages of pilots, technicians, and maintenance personnel, and the AOPA High\nSchool Aviation STEM curriculum was designed to give students a solid basis for\ndiscovering and pursuing careers in those and other aviation fields.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Currently, 16 Oklahoma schools offer the AOPA Curriculum,\nincluding Ada High School, Ada Junior High, Braggs High School, Central Ninth\nGrade Center and Charles Page High School, Davenport High School, Geronimo High\nSchool, Gracemont High School, MacArthur High School, McAlester High School, Mustang\nHigh School, Okmulgee High School, Owasso High School, Pryor High School,\nStringtown High School, Tri County Tech, Bartlesville, and Tulsa Technology\nCenter – Riverside Campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Aeronautics Commission has provided grants to assist\nschools in receiving the information necessary to successfully deliver the AOPA\ncurriculum to students interested in aviation and aeronautics. The Commission\ncontinues to address inquiries from schools across the state interested in the\nAOPA curriculum, many of whom may choose to apply in the future and to seek\ngrants from the Commission to implement their programs. \u201cThe AOPA curriculum is\na rocket-fueled resource for state educators to facilitate a young person\u2019s\nrealization that a fulfilling, rewarding career in aviation and aerospace is\nmore than possible after graduation. With these new standards in place, this\nprogram is certain to soar,\u201d said Fox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There is a strong tailwind pushing aviation and aerospace education in the State of Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission is leading a renewed and dedicated charge in that effort. The endeavor began three years ago in the heart of Pontotoc County when an educator from Ada Public Schools, Paula Kedy, Executive Director Of Academics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aviation-education","category-oklahoma"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13955"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13957,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13955\/revisions\/13957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}