Durant High School had an open house July 31 for the take-off of their new aviation lab where they will build an airplane while preparing students for a future in aviation.
Space for the lab became available when a new building for agriculture was constructed and earlier this year, the school district signed an agreement with Tango Flight that will allow the students to build and airplane.
Dr. Zac Morgan is the director of STEM education for Durant Schools, and he also teaches the aviation program. He said the the district is adding two sections of Aviation 1 at the middle school and will be looking at adding additional aviation offerings in the coming years.
“We’re implementing a new curriculum called Tango Flight. It’s a two-year curriculum that allows students to build from parts and pieces to an airworthy airplane. We had training a few weeks ago.”
Melanie Nester is a senior and she is excited about the program.
“I’ve been a part of it since my freshman year,” Nester said. “I’m excited to see how far it has come since the beginning. It started out as a classroom tucked away in the library. So now, we have our own lab and we’re building our plane.”
Sophomore Emma Sherrer said, “It’s a lot of good opportunities for all of the students and the upcoming students.”
Sophomore Caiden Todd said it is an amazing opportunity.
“There’s not many people who can say I helped build an airplane,” Todd said.
Superintendent Mark Moring said the lab is a testament to the school district’s commitment to provide students with more career exploration, whether it be aviation, vocational agriculture, nursing, manufacturing jobs, the military and also concurrent enrollment in college.
“Whatever it might be, we want to give our kids all those opportunities that we didn’t have,” Moring said. “Everybody in this room, you adults in this room, probably, when you’re going through high school, you probably asked yourself, ‘Why are we learning this?’ We’re trying to give students a why for that light bulb moment to either say, ‘Hey I would love to do this or I don’t know, that’s something I really don’t want to do.’ This is just a testament to our district and especially our high school, giving kids career paths. There’s some different career paths, not everybody in the aviation program is going to be a pilot. There’s all kinds of different career paths in the aviation field.”
Morgan introduced Paula Kedy of the Oklahoma Department of Aerospace and Aeronautics.
“There is not a bigger advocate for aviation education in this state than Paula, Stephanie Holt-Lucas and her team,” Morgan said. “They’re a key cog in this process. The commission funds in a large part aviation education across Oklahoma.”
Kedy said she visited Durant about four and a half years ago to ask about starting an aviation program at the high school.
“Durant is the perfect place,” Kedy said. “You’ve got a remarkable aviation program, one of the oldest, second oldest in the nation and most powerful aviation program at Southeastern University, and we’re thrilled to partner with them. You have a strong airport system, obviously. You have a strong school system. It’s a perfect storm to start an aviation program.”
State Senator David Bullard, who is also a pilot, attended the open house. He said aviation or aeronautics is the second largest industry in Oklahoma.
“I’m really pushing hard to make sure that is number one because oil and gas is always going to be around,” Bullard said. “We’re going to have that for lifetimes and generations to go work in them, but you are watching what’s happening in our country. The baby boom generation is moving out of the workforce. Guess who gets to take that over? The ones standing up there in the back of that room and some of these who are standing here and aviation is at a critical juncture right now where if we don’t engage, and the legislature has figured this out, and if we don’t engage as a state in getting more and more people into aviation, we’re going to be in a major, major problem very soon.
“So, I’m very proud of Durant High School, very proud of our aeronautics commission. They do a great job of getting around to try and move aviation, but (retired principal) Cheryl Conditt, thank you so much for your work on this and the effort that you put into it. I mean that was a visionary thing for you to see such a long time ago. To my students back there in the back, aviation is the greatest thing that will ever happen to you.”
Beth Bean, director of curriculum for the school district, announced the formation of the non-profit Flyin’ Lion Foundation.
“Our first goal will be to buy the plane in two years that our students produce and we are planning on also establishing scholarships where they will get some of their flying, private flying lessons, along with scholarships that they go to Southeastern or any other university in aviation to major in the aviation field,” Bean said. “So, we do not want any barriers before our students and aviation as we all know is very expensive because it’s a specialized field.
“I’m going to be part of the board for the non-profit and one of the things that I’m doing and I’m going to ask others to do is make pledges. We haven’t formed yet. We’re still in the beginning stages, but we’re going to need funds in order to do what we want to do because again, the saying is, ‘the sky is the limit.’ We are really thrilled to be part of this effort.”
Morgan thanked the many people who helped the aviation program become airborne.
“The Board of Education is the key cog in this machine,” Morgan said. “Without their support, we aren’t here today. Their vision and foresight to see the benefits of this program is perhaps the most significant part of this process. Their trust in me is not taken lightly, and the trust our families put in the Board must be acknowledged as well.”
