The last week of July proved to be an exciting and engaging week for two separate groups of local high school students as they participated in the Culture, Aerospace, Science & Engineering (CASE) Camp and the University of Oklahoma’s Sooner Flight Academy Summer Camp. Members of the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center (MMAC) helped host these events back-to-back, presenting information virtually about the FAA and sharing personal stories about their careers and involvement in the aviation and aerospace community.
The CASE Camp, sponsored by the Delaware Resource Group in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was attended by 45 Native American students. The camp presented the students with an opportunity to explore Aerospace careers, while placing a special emphasis on Native American culture and heritage. The Aeronautical Center’s presentation provided an overview of the FAA’s role and functions in the National Airspace System (NAS) and how the Aeronautical Center supports these operations. Students learned about the history of the Aeronautical Center and looked into the future of aviation with videos of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s) and electric, Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
Woven into these discussions was a fascinating look at several Native Americans who made their mark in aviation and aerospace. Students learned about Mary Riddle, a member of the Quinault & Clatstop tribes, who was a pilot (but was known more for her parachuting skills), and Mary Golda Ross, a Cherokee from Oklahoma, and the first female engineer at Lockheed Corporation who helped develop missiles and satellites. Also discussed was Bessie Coleman, the first Cherokee and African American female to hold a pilot’s license, and John Herrington, a Chickasaw from Oklahoma who was the first Native American to walk in space. The Native American community has a rich and proud heritage in aviation and aerospace exploration and development. The Aeronautical Center was pleased to highlight these distinguished individuals and their accomplishments!
The Sooner Flight Academy held their annual summer camp the same week as the CASE Camp, so the Aeronautical Center employees jumped from one presentation directly into the next! Sooner Flight Academy Summer Camp students learned about the FAA and the careers available, both in the aviation community and specifically at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center. They learned about the training that the Academy provides, the NAS Engineering Group and the careful watch they maintain over the NAS, the business solutions of the Enterprise Service Center, as well as the science of safety and the research that occurs within the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI).
Running two camp presentations back-to-back required a lot of coordination and teamwork, but All-Stars from across the Aeronautical Center came together and executed two seamless, virtual presentations to the two camps. The panel of enthusiastic speakers included: Nick Villafana, a Course Manager & Aviation Inspector in the FAA Academy’s Air Worthiness Branch, with his wife, Danielle Villafana, an Airline Captain for Piedmont Airlines; Christine Huckleberry, a Hardware Engineering Manager in the NAS Engineering Group; Dr. Chanda Sanders, a Personnel Psychologist in Human Factors at the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI), and Justin Breeden, a Customer Account Representative in the Enterprise Services Center. Employees from the Quality Systems and Business Resources Staff (AMC-3), Justin Cockroft, Management and Program Analyst and Debbie Uglean, AMC Records Manager, co-hosted the one-hour events for each of the student groups. Fellow colleagues, Bryan Dahlvang, Katy Williams, and Laura Shepherd-Madsen worked behind the scenes to make sure that PowerPoint presentations and Mentimeter interactivities ran smoothly.
’Amazing’, ’Interesting’ and ’Exciting’ were a few of the survey comments provided by the participating students. Collectively, these diverse presenters delivered a passionate presentation about the benefits of working in aviation, highlighting their careers and describing the work that is performed in their organizations, and described their own personal fulfillment derived from the jobs they hold.
While the summer camps may not have been held in a traditional, in-person format, the students participating in the Culture, Aerospace, Science, and Engineering (CASE) Camp and the Sooner Flight Academy Summer Camp learned about numerous jobs within the aviation industry, and have their futures in aviation careers cleared for takeoff!
As a reminder, if you have an interest in becoming a STEM Outreach Representative to share your passion about the work that you do, be sure to enroll as an official STEM Outreach Representative. You can help shape the future of aviation and make a difference in the lives of young people.
