City Of Fort Worth: Propelling A Future Path

Dallas TX

27 August, 2021

3:57 PM

Description

Press release from City of Fort Worth: August 27, 2021 Roger Venables, Ricardo Barcelo, Aaron Barth and Dakota Shaw are accustomed to visiting with local youth about jobs in aviation. Typically, the City of Fort Worth Aviation Department staffers meet with children at their schools. Recently, Venables suggested they shake things up a bit and instead conduct a tour of two local aviation museums to provide the kids a real-life, hands-on experience. Venables, the city's aviation director, arranged for a group of 15 students from Lisa's Little Angels Learning Center to visit the Fort Worth Aviation Museum and the Vintage Flying Museum at Meacham International Airport in July. "The kids loved it because they got to push buttons and turn knobs and walk through planes," he said. Employees and volunteers at the two facilities ushered the boys and girls around their respective sites. Then Shaw, airport supervisor at Meacham, gave a presentation on airfield operations, along with a general orientation of the airfield itself. Capping it off was the day's main attraction, which elicited lots of ooh's and aah's: an up-close-and-personal look at the planes. "We reached out to kids who otherwise may not have had an opportunity to visit the museums," Venables said. The youngsters, whose ages ranged from 6 to 15, mostly hailed from Stop Six, a neighborhood that posts a 40.4% poverty rate and 51.5% graduation rate; 95.6% of children there receive subsidized meals. "You never know," Venables mused. "Out of a group of kids, you might pique the curiosity of one who thinks, 'Maybe I can be an aeronautical engineer or I can be a pilot.'" Or maybe, he said, a visit might even inspire some to think outside of that particular box and land a career path in a different branch of the aeronautical realm. "We talk about all the other things involved in operating an airport, not just taking off and landing an airplane. We want to open them up to the possibilities and show them there are a number of opportunities available to participate in the aviation industry," Venables said. "They may decide they want to develop airports, build hangars, repair and service aircraft or be in ground operations. We want to give them a broader perspective." Introducing these concepts at a young age is vital, Venables said, which is why he opted to recruit elementary- and middle-school-aged participants for this educational outing. Besides the tactile experience and the excitement of seeing the aircraft in all of their gleaming glory, Venables and the rest of his tour guides also seized the opportunity to touch on another important topic. "We did emphasize that if you want to be a pilot, an engineer, an aircraft mechanic or anything in this industry, you've got to stay in school," he said.     Photo: Tour participants learned how science, technology, engineering and mathematics concepts combine in real-world flight scenarios.     Get articles like this in your inbox. Subscribe to City News.   This press release was produced by City of Fort Worth. The views expressed here are the author's own.