Area High School Students Complete Tulsa Aviation Academy
Eleven high school students, one from as far away as Illinois, completed Tulsa Aviation Academy this summer.
The students are from left to right: Matthew Ashford, Berryhill High School; Matthew Bookout and Evan Doak, both of Bishop Kelly School, Robert Brown, Broken Arrow South Intermediate High School; Dustin Martin, Glenpool High School; Israel Kopp, home school; J.D. Keith, Jenks High School; Joshua Holt, Owasso High School; Jonathan Padgett, Sapulpa High School; and Ryan Jeppersen, Union Intermediate High School. Sean Jones, Mattoon (IL) High School, was in Tulsa for an annual family visit to his aunt and grandparents and became interested enough in the subject matter of the Academy to attend the July session.
In addition to building and launching model rockets and
viewing an Aero L-39 Albatross, former Czechoslovakian Air Force jet combat
trainer, each student logged an hour of instructor-assisted flight time
in Cessna 172 aircraft--a round trip from Tulsa to Shawnee to McAlester.
The students toured different Tulsa area aviation-related industries,
including Air National Guard, Flight Safety International (FSI), Nordam,
Oklahoma State University (OSU) Center for Aerospace and Hyperbaric Medicine,
and Tulsa International Airport.
Among the speakers at the Academy were flight examiners, professional and military pilots, and an aviation medical examiner.
James O'Neal, chief operating officer, Bravo Engineering and Consulting, and James VanLaak, manager of operations, International Space Station (ISS), discussed the history of and future plans for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and ISS.
The Academy, under the direction of Jack Sellers, Ed.D,
assistant professor of aviation science technology, Tulsa Community College
(TCC), was sponsored by Tulsa Aviation Alliance. OSU-Tulsa, TCC, and Tulsa
Technology Center are Alliance members.
Contact: Demetrius Bereolos, TCC, 918/595-7955