Feb. 16—The small plastic model — a blue-and-white, fixed-wing plane that sits near Amanda Woodward's computer in her North Star High School classroom — is more than a teaching tool.
She uses it to help her students understand flight aerodynamics, but it's also evidence of something the career and technical education teacher is sure of: that she is meant to be there, in the North Star classroom, opening doors for her students, helping them see there's a whole host of careers in aviation just waiting for them.
Lincoln Public Schools hired her last year to teach classes the district was piloting at North Star using curriculum developed by the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association and partnering with Duncan Aviation in a fledgling — and growing — aviation program.
They wanted to gauge interest. Last year, 45 kids signed up. This year — in the midst of a pandemic — more than 70 are taking classes in what is quickly taking shape as the district's newest focus program.
LPS has purchased three flight simulators for students, using federal career and technical education money and is hoping to expand the aviation lab using bond money set aside for focus programs in existing high schools, though no plans have been finalized and officials will likely need to rely on private or grant money as well. To that end, they hope to apply for a $500,000 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Woodward heard about the job last year and figured fate was at work: that airplane on her desk is a childhood toy.
Two of her uncles were pilots and flight instructors, and she remembers clearly at about 7 years old having one of her uncles put her hands on the yoke that steers the plane and telling her she was flying the plane.
Her 7-year-old self believed that with all her heart, though her adult self knows that wasn't true. But, oh, what a rush.
At 15, she took apart and reassembled motorcycles her dad bought her but didn't realize that her calling in life was to be shop teacher until she was 27. Once that became clear, she earned her degree in three years and got a job at Culler Middle School.
She was immersed in the work and on a mission to make sure her students were exposed to the many technical careers out there for young people — women as well as men — because she believes they offer a chance at personal fulfillment, good pay and a good life. Then the North Star job came up.
"Because I love power mechanics and because I've been in planes since I was a little, little, little kid and because I've said a thousand times ... I'm going to change shop class in Lincoln for the better every single chance I get ... when I saw this was opened up, I thought, I don't care who else applies for that, that needs to be my job."
District officials agreed, and hired her, a step in a program that had been germinating for a few years.
Duncan Aviation officials had been well aware of an impending shortage of airline technicians. The industry had been warning for some years about a shortage of pilot and air crews, but tens of thousands of technicians will be reaching retirement age in the next five to 10 years, said Leon Holloway, Duncan's enterprise human resources manager.
A 2019 study by Boeing estimated the need for more than 700,000 airline mechanics by 2037.
Duncan began to think proactively and decided building a local talent pool for the jobs it knew it would need to fill was the best path forward, Holloway said.
Company officials looked at high schools in Michigan and Kansas that had aviation pathways, and knew Grand Island was starting an aviation program.
They reached out to administrators at The Career Academy, and then to LPS officials, who suggested they start small, pilot a few courses, gauge interest.
Jason Thomsen, the district's career and technical education curriculum specialist, said the job demand piqued LPS' interest, because career and technical educators try to match the courses to fields they know are hiring.
"The biggest thing for us is exposing kids to potential career opportunities, and (aviation) is very high-demand and it's a very high-wage opportunity," he said. "And we have a great partner here in our backyard ( Duncan Aviation). We just think it's a really good program that can take off."
About the same time, the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association was developing a STEM curriculum.
"It was kind of perfect timing," Thomsen said.
Last year, LPS offered courses using the association's curriculum. This year, district officials modified that curriculum into three courses: a general introduction to aviation, a course on aircraft systems focused more on the technical, mechanical side, and a third course focused more on flying.
Thomsen said they hope to develop an advanced aircraft mechanics course, and the existing power mechanics course works well with the aviation courses because the basic systems of small engines are the same as many that power airplanes.
Last year, students went on a field trip to Duncan and about six students spent more time there getting hands-on experience, Thomsen said.
Logan Skrdlant, who comes from a family of auto mechanics, was taking power mechanics and Woodward convinced him to go on the field trip.
He was hooked. Now the junior has signed up for all three aviation classes and plans to pursue aviation mechanics as a career.
"I found a lot of enjoyment in it," he said.
Last year, six students got more of an internship at Duncan. It was cut short by the pandemic, but both Duncan and LPS officials plan to get that started again, hopefully offering a credit course for students that involves work at Duncan.
Woodward said those hands-on experiences are vital to sparking students' interest, and she tries to supplement her classes with presentations by pilots and air-traffic controllers and those in the profession.
The pandemic has been hard on the airline industry, Holloway said, but despite layoffs in the technical area, there's still demand. He anticipates Duncan's Lincoln plant needing to fill 15-20 positions in the next year, if not more.
Woodward sees aviation as a field with broad possibilities for students. Beyond pilots and mechanics, there's also air-traffic controllers and airport designers and accident reconstructionists.
Somebody's going to have to find a way to reduce aircraft emissions, Woodward said, an engineering and environmental challenge that will fall to her students' generation.
"My kids are going to be the ones dealing with these things," she said. "We can't ever give the kids too many opportunities to learn about careers."
That's why Woodward got her hands on a Cessna wing (with a little help from Duncan) that she keeps in storage. She wants her students to be able to fix the rivets and work on the fiberglass. She has a black box and an array of other airplane equipment she's gotten ahold of for her students to work on because she wants them to see the possibilities.
"We do a wonderful job of showcasing other industrial technology careers," she said. "We have a solid foundation. Why not branch out to the next thing that will need attention from our workforce?"
Reach the writer at 402-473-7226 or [email protected].
On Twitter @LJSreist
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