Wallenpaupack aviation students chart sky-high career ambitions
They're building an airplane inside their classroom at Wallenpaupack Area High School — a real airplane.
Wallenpaupack Aeronautical Science & Aviation (WASA) has reached new heights since teacher Eric Greenberger, a licensed pilot, started it as an after-school club in 2021. As he and the administration had dreamed, it has become one of the high school's dedicated career academy curriculums.
The program currently covers three years, with elective classes for freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. Each year, they will add additional aviation coursework to develop and support four aviation career pathways (professional pilot, air traffic control, aviation maintenance and aviation management), Greenberger explained.
They launched the academic program with the "intro to aviation" course for year one. For the second year, they have added a private pilot ground school. Beginning in the fall of 2024, they plan to continue those classes and add an instrument ground school course.
Using a hands-on approach rather than textbooks, they work on actual planes that have been donated to the district. Aviation industry professionals visit the classroom, and the students participate in fields trips to regional airports.
Numerous students have been so inspired, they are training on weekends to be private pilots. Pictures of 20 students who have taken their first flight are grouped together on a classroom wall. Students have been taking airplane lessons at Cherry Ridge and Wyoming Valley airports and helicopter training at Pocono Mountains Municipal Airport.
Greenberger stresses WASA has enthusiastic support from the aviation industry, which nationwide has a challenge in recruiting qualified personnel.
He said he has around 150 new students this year. The after-school club is also still active, which attracts students from other local school districts.
They also expect to have articulation agreements with regional universities so that WASA students may earn college credits. A college education, while beneficial, is not critical to be professional pilots or to work as an air traffic controller, Greenberg said.
Among the several career academy paths at Wallenpaupack offered to students, Greenberger said that currently the aviation pathway is their biggest draw.
With so few aviation programs at the high school level, Greenberger stated that the students are in an advantageous position for aviation industry jobs, there being little competition from other high schools, unlike with many other career curriculums.
Greenberger thanked the many businesses that have partnered with WASA, donating parts and equipment, sharing expertise and making opportunities for the students. One of the partners is JetBlue, a national airline, which donated a jet turbine engine last spring.
The New York Air National Guard based in Orange County is also a partner.
They also built a cockpit simulator in the classroom, using a donated cockpit from a plane that crashed in the Easton area. The simulator offers modern, digital avionic displays and a panoramic screen.
"We can try and learn how to do it in real life, if an engine is out or a bird strikes," student Camron Ortiz said.
In another corner of the classroom is a huge airport beacon, which the students demonstrated, turning on its brilliant light. This was donated by Sullivan County International Airport at Bethel, New York, and restored by the students.
Ortiz, who would like to be a pilot, added, "It's good the community has a lot of faith in us, and helps us feel secure... It is amazing to work up close with planes. I didn't think it was possible, all that I am learning."
Greenberger said that they are working with various organizations to provide flight training school scholarships. Over $20,000 has been awarded, he said.
The students work on marketing WASA to the middle school, the community and the aviation world. They sell merchandise, which helps the scholarship fund.
Grady Hearn said that he has been training to fly at Cherry Ridge Airport and would like to be a private pilot and fly corporate jets. WASA, he said, has helped him decide his career direction.
"Before, I didn't know much; I thought it was out of my reach," Rylan Downey said. WASA, he stated, "helped me see it's a real option for me." Downey recently took his first flight from Cherry Ridge with an instructor. At first it was "nerve-racking," he said, but once he was up in the sky, it was very peaceful and stress-free.
Anthony Thaxton, a first year WASA student, said he is attracted to the business side of aviation and is intrigued by the job opportunities with good pay.
Jaslene Toro and Kiana Madrigal both said they would like to work in air traffic control.
The airplane under construction in the classroom had been a complete Cessna 150H, which the students are refurbishing and rebuilding. Other businesses have helped, donating what was needed to upholster and paint the fuselage. They will be adding the tail and wings, which of course they will have to remove, as well as the nose, to get the plane out of the classroom and school doors to get it outside.
Greenberger said the whole project has cost taxpayers "one dollar." Each of the three WASA aircraft were donated, but required an official exchange of funds to demonstrate ownership. "We paid $1 for our Cessna 150H, $1 for our Cessna 310, and $1 for our Mooney M20K," he said.
He said that they do not have enough space in the classroom, but plans are in place for a new, larger instructional facility for WASA within the Career & Technical Education (CTE) center the school district intends to build on the elementary school North Campus grounds, once funding is secured. The center would include the many CTE programs Wallenpaupack provides, including aviation.
Peter Becker has worked at the Tri-County Independent or its predecessor publications since 1994. Reach him at pbecker@tricountyindependent.com or 570-253-3055 ext. 1588.
This article originally appeared on Tri-County Independent: Wallenpaupack high school students preparing for aviation careers
