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tour the control tower and radar control room of the Green Bay airport. We also toured several aircraft and one of the FBOs on the field. For the final activity of the day, we got to go on Young Eagle’s flights with one of the flight schools. I was hooked and spent much of middle school and high school obsessed with airplanes, soloing at 16 and getting my Private Pilot’s license at 17. Since then, I have continued my flight training at the University of North Dakota.
Since beginning at UND, I have been taking the transition course for those students that enter with their private pilot’s license. I then spent a year doing my instrument flight training, with almost all this course taking place during the time of COVID restrictions. This spring semester I completed
my commercial license training in
the Piper Archer. In the fall I will be continuing with my multi-engine rating in the Seminole. This summer I am taking a break from the serious flight training to pursue the fun side of flying. I am currently working on my tailwheel
rating in a 1940s Aeronca Champ and will soon be starting my seaplane rating in a Piper Cub on Floats.
During my senior year of high school, I began to wonder how I was going to pay for college and began to think about what I would do when
I graduate. During high school,
I had been a member of the Civil
Air Patrol and after attending an American Legion Boys State program in Wisconsin and talking with other veterans I decided to look further into the military programs in aviation. This led me to join the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program. I signed up for the ROTC classes and decided to try out the program and see how it fit. I instantly fell in love with the comradery and sense of purpose that the program instills in you. Since then,
I have had the honor of being appointed as Honor Guard Commander during my sophomore year and receiving an enrollment allocation to compete in the rated boards next spring. I am hoping to be selected for a manned pilot slot and become a pilot in the U.S. Air Force. Outside of classes and ROTC, I
have been very active with both the Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 1342 and the UND UAS/RC Club on campus. I have been an EAA member since 2012 soon after my first Young Eagles ride. Since neither of
my parents or any other close family members, were pilots I relied heavily
on EAA to get my aviation fix. I have attended AirVenture every year since then and have been a volunteer every year since 2016. The friends I have made at each year’s Oshkosh became my aviation family and helped encourage me to complete my flight training. When I came to UND I became a member of the chapter to help find that same feeling at college.
In the spring of 2020, I was elected President and have served in that position since. During the fall semester, I organized online events so that we could keep everyone safe and healthy. During the spring semester, we have slowly transitioned to more and more in-person meetings as the health
situation has allowed. We finished
out this school year with a fly-in
done in conjunction with our sister Chapter, Chapter 380 in Grafton, ND. During this event, there was a pancake breakfast, several planes on display, and Young Eagle flights for any kids who wanted them. Between the two Chapters, we raised almost $3,000 for the Fargo Air and Space Museum and gave 101 children their first flight in a small airplane, for many it was their first ride in an airplane. During this event, I personally flew 17 kids as my way to give back to the program that first got me into aviation.
I also have been very active in the UND UAS/RC Club. This student organization is for students who are interested in designing, building, and flying RC aircraft. There is
also a subgroup inside this student organization that competes annually in the Collegiate Drone Racing Championship. During my freshman year, the spread of COVID-19 led to the event that is usually held in person going virtual and our team helped design and test the racecourse. After my freshman year, I was elected to be the safety officer and served in this position for a semester before being elected to the treasurer in the fall and was reelected this spring. This club also serves to connect students with potential employers in the industry.
For the last year, I have worked for EASE Drones, a drone company that does pipeline, infrastructure, and construction projects. I have been primarily involved in research projects that have been awarded in contracts. Last summer I participated in a research site for the drone delivery company Flytrex and Walmart. Over the winter and this summer, we are participating in a project with NASA, the Department of Defense, and Homeland Security. I helped to design, build, and test a drone swarm system that will
be used to test and evaluate NASA’s Unmanned Traffic Management system and its Counter UAS detection systems at the Grand Forks AFB and Grand Sky Commercial Drone Park.
Scholarship Winners Continued Page 30
Safety & Education Foundation
28 MMOPA MAGAZINE
JULY / AUGUST 2021