{"id":18792,"date":"2021-07-06T11:50:04","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T11:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=18792"},"modified":"2021-07-06T11:50:56","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T11:50:56","slug":"women-in-k-state-polytechnics-pilot-program-proving-sky-is-the-limit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/kansas\/women-in-k-state-polytechnics-pilot-program-proving-sky-is-the-limit\/%20","title":{"rendered":"Women in K-State Polytechnic’s Pilot Program Proving Sky Is the Limit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Photo above – From left, Piper Wasinger, Macy McMillan, Karen Morrison, Heather Thummel and Cristina Duron Tabora are part of the growing number of women in K-State Polytechnic’s professional pilot program.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many pilot students have fellow aviators to look up to and seek advice and support from, but for women in the aviation industry, this kind of camaraderie can be harder to find. Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus<\/a> is changing that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

K-State Polytechnic’s interim chief pilot Brandy Shaw and\nassistant chief pilot Karen Morrison are both accomplished female pilots and\nare in rare company. According to the Women in Aviation International, only\n7.9% of pilots are female.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Brandy Shaw, interim chief pilot at K-State Polytechnic. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It is because of this leadership, in part, that K-State Polytechnic has seen a rise in women joining its professional pilot program<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the start of the 2019 academic year, the professional\npilot program has seen the number of female students nearly double. Twelve\npercent of all professional pilot students on the campus, located in Salina,\nare female. The number of women passing check rides \u2014 where students prove they\nunderstand and can perform specific maneuvers and pass a challenging written\nexam \u2014 has set a record for the campus and shows great promise for increasing\nthe impact of women in the aviation industry as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In spring semester completions alone, from February to\nJune, we saw eight women complete successful check rides,” Shaw said.\n“It’s an incredible impact on our campus and I’m excited to see the future\nof the aviation industry.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The uptick in the number of female pilot students, who come\nfrom around the world, at K-State Polytechnic can be attributed to a more\ndiversified recruitment strategy and positive, supportive mentorship from other\nfemale pilots, according to Shaw and Morrison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with her role as assistant chief pilot, Morrison is\nalso the advisor for the K-State Polytechnic chapter of Women in Aviation, an\norganization dedicated to the encouragement and advancement of women in all\naviation career fields. She is excited to see both men and women passionate\nabout the cause and becoming active chapter members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s been an exciting adventure advising Women in\nAviation,” Morrison said. “My favorite part is when we show younger\nkids all the different sides to the aviation industry and hopefully inspire\nthem to dream big.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having women in leadership roles at K-State Polytechnic also\nis beneficial for students when looking at their future careers. Heather\nThummel, sophomore in professional pilot from Topeka, said it paints a picture\nof the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s inspirational to see women in leadership roles\nand it shows me that I can do that one day, too,” Thummel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thummel wants to be part of the new Wildcat Mentor program,\ncreated by fellow professional pilot student Trey Varner, to let future female\npilots know they are not alone and can pave their own way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Being involved in the Wildcat Mentor program can show\nyounger students that, as upperclassmen, we’ve been where you are and you can\ndo this too,” Thummel said. “There’s a camaraderie that is shared\namong the female pilots to let each other know you support them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morrison said a common desire of her students is to serve as\nmentors for incoming students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“All of our successful pilot students are driven and\naspirational,” Morrison said. “They have a desire to show younger\nkids interested in aviation that your dream is possible \u2014 we’re doing it, so\ncan you, and we’re here to support you.” \n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo above – From left, Piper Wasinger, Macy McMillan, Karen Morrison, Heather Thummel and Cristina Duron Tabora are part of the growing number of women in K-State Polytechnic’s professional pilot program. Many pilot students have fellow aviators to look up to and seek advice and support from, but for women in the aviation industry, this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18796,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,116,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-education","category-front-page-slider","category-kansas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Female-pilotsedit2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18792","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=18792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18795,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18792\/revisions\/18795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}