The event was a chance for the students to learn how science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) applies to aviation.
Flight Night was part of a Chief Science Officer (CSO) action plan, hosted by Ava Nelson, an H.H. Dow High School senior. The CSO action plan focuses on spreading STEM in the community and schools. In the past, Nelson has held similar events for Central Park, Siebert and Adams elementary schools.
"Being so young, I feel like their idea of STEM careers is either you're an engineer or a scientist. I want them to have the idea that there are many STEM careers," Nelson said. "There's a ton of careers within STEM, and aviation is a small part of that."
Flight Night was directly aligned to Project Lead the Way, an elementary STEM curriculum. Flight Night tied in with the third graders' unit on the science of flight.
Jen Servoss, Midland Public Schools curriculum specialist for elementary instruction, appreciated how the Flight Night had a hands-on connection with the classroom lessons. She hoped the students understand that anything is possible in STEM careers.
"I think that living in our world today, all of the aspects of STEM education are where careers are headed today," Servoss said. "It's so applicable to so many aspects of the real world."
Nelson was accompanied by two younger CSOs: Preston Komara, a seventh-grader at Jefferson Middle School, and Braeden Oehring, a seventh-grader at Freeland Middle School. Nelson hopes Komara and Oehring will be able to take over the local CSO program next year after she graduates.
"You always get to learn something from these events," Oehring said, adding that interactive STEM events are fun.
"You're basically getting a whole lesson out of this event, but it's hands-on, it's fun," Komara added. "It's not like sitting in a classroom and getting a lecture."
Flight Night operated as an open house, with students and their parents moving between 14 stations. Students were able to see different types of aircraft up close — some venturing into cockpits — create their own tail number, learn the different parts of a plane, discover the four forces of flight, read a compass and test a flight simulator, among other activities.
Meanwhile, a pilot flew a pattern so students could hear its radio calls.
Airport Manager Sarah Pagano explained how deeply STEM is integrated into aviation. With science, aviators can understand the forces of flight. Technology comes into play with the know-how of operating a cockpit. Some pilots use engineering to build their own planes. Finally, math is used to calculate the weight and balance as well as the fuel amount.
"(Aviation) is 100 percent STEM," Pagano stated. "Planes do not get off the ground without STEM."
Pagano hopes the students understand that the airport is available to them, perhaps even generating an interest in aviation.
"For me and the other aviators who are here, to be able to share what we love with the kids is worth more than words," Pagano said.
©2022 the Midland Daily News (Midland, Mich.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
