From the basketball court to the sky
Jan. 9—ROCKINGHAM — Quamir Sivels made his mark on the Richmond Raiders basketball team during his four years of high school, but he now has a new legacy he's forging — about six miles above sea level.
A RSHS Class of 2020 graduate, Quamir is now employed by the Federal Aviation Administration as an Air Traffic Controller trainee at the age of 21-years-old.
It all started in the summer of 2018 when Quamir attended the week-long ACE Academy Camp in Manassas, Virginia conducted by OBAP (Organization of Black Professionals). He was 16 at the time and the experience "spiked" his interest.
"From when I first got introduced to it, you just catch a bug for it," Quamir said. "There's so many things you can do in aviation, from being a mechanic, to a pilot, flight attendant...There's so many different jobs you can do. I never thought I would be a controller."
During the camp, they toured various control towers and airports, and had guest speakers who were mechanics, pilots, and everything in between.
"At the end, we got to go into a Cessna," Quamir said. "After that, I realized it was something that I really enjoyed."
His father, Shamia, encouraged his son's interest in aviation throughout his education. Quamir would consistently watch various YouTube aviation videos. When Quamir graduated from Richmond Senior, he was accepted into Delaware State University's aviation program. When the pandemic hit, the family determined it wasn't the best circumstances to pursue that opportunity.
Quamir was able to use his father's military benefits to pursue a private pilot license. In January of 2021, Quamir began his training at the Moore County Airport through Total Flight Solutions. He completed the course in August of that year. To save up money during that time, he worked at Planet Fitness and took classes at Richmond Community College.
An unexpected obstacle served as a potential impediment to his progress. While Quamir was planning to relocate to Charlotte to attend a flight school, he learned that his girlfriend was expecting a child.
"Once you have a baby it changes a lot — Makes you look at everything completely different," Quamir said. "For one, it gives you a whole new motivation to keep working and try to be great."
While Quamir continued to save up money to support his expanding family, his father shared an FAA application for an air traffic controller program with his son, not expecting him to consider it. Quamir filled out the application in June of 2022, and completed a test later that fall. In August of 2023, almost a year later, Quamir learned that he did exceptionally well on the test and was placed in the top tier of applicants.
Quamir began an online training program that October, which prepared him for a three-month long air traffic controller training excursion to Oklahoma City.
"It was very intense from start to finish," Quamir said. "From the beginning, it's been a ton of studying [runway configurations and weather reports] each and every day, hours after class." Quamir said. "Then once we got to actually start applying it with simulator and tabletop runs, all the studying started to come together at the end. It was a very, very tough course with a lot of group studying. You have to live and breath air traffic."
Quamir, the younger person in his class, completed the course this month. He returned to North Carolina this week and will soon relocate to Roanoke. Quamir starts next week as an air traffic controller trainee, where he will work his way up to be fully certified over the next 12-18 months. The work schedule is arduous, with long hours and sometimes three different shift time, including morning and night shifts, possible in one week.
"He had some adversity along the way," Shamia said. "Young black men, it's rare that we are in the field of aviation. It's not like he had a father that was a pilot or anything. Kids getting exposed to things at the right age could set them up for success in the future. I'm real proud of him. He still wants to be a pilot, but this is a great start for him that gets him in that position."
Quamir's girlfriend, Alysia Ingram, and his one-year-old son still live in Rockingham. Quamir's ultimate goal is to be a commercial pilot, and now, he's got the resources and access possible to make that a reality.
"[I] credit my basketball coaches — It taught me how to work hard and how to dedicate myself toward something," Quamir said.
Quamir said that the long hours of studying in Oklahoma City was only possible through his four years of putting his head down at the gym and persevering through adversity on the court.
"I saw the benefits of how hard work pays off," Quamir said. "I feel like I've been prepared for a lot of stuff in life from basketball."
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