Weeklong event provides up-close view
of aerospace careers
MURFREESBORO,
Tenn. — As long as he can remember, teenager Preston Davis has always
dreamt about flying an aircraft.
Thankfully
during his week at MTSU's 2017 Introduction to Aviation Summer Camp, Davis did
more than that.
"I
got the total experience that I needed," said Davis, a rising sophomore at
Mt. Juliet High School.
Nearly
40 students are gaining hands-on experience at the university's weeklong
aviation camp, which wraps up Friday at the MTSU Jean A. Jack Flight Education
Center at Murfreesboro Municipal Airport and on the MTSU campus in the Business
and Aerospace Building.
"My
parents thought it'd be a good opportunity for me to learn more about
airplanes, mechanics and everything to gain more knowledge about flying,"
Davis added.
During
Monday’s opening activities, campers along with faculty and staff met at the
airport, where MTSU's Department of Aerospace also takes its currently enrolled
students to learn how to fly. The teenagers then split into four groups for the
duration of the week.
All the
campgoers got to experience what flying is really like through three rotations
that each lasted about 30 minutes to an hour. Flying activities included
traveling from the airport to Shelbyville, Tennessee, accompanied by an
instructor, using Microsoft flight simulators in the classroom and flying a
Diamond simulator that gave them the big screen experience.
"The
instructors really broke it down for me and guided me the whole way,"
Davis said.
Professor
Wendy Beckman, camp director and aerospace department chair, said this is the
seventh year the university has held the camp and hopes the high school
students discover other avionic opportunities.
"Our
big thrust is to expose them to aviation careers. You can look up information
on the web, but it's kind of limited,” she said. “So we set this camp up to let
students know what there is to do in aviation, and some of the students
absolutely love it and some decide it's not for them, and that's OK."
For more
information about the camps or the aerospace program, which is one of 11
programs in the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, call 615-898-2788 or
email Mary Lou Cornett at Marylou.Cornett@mtsu.edu or Beckman at Wendy.Beckman@mtsu.edu.
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