Huge companies like StandardAero and a few others in Augusta have a need in common. Good employees.
So, Augusta Regional Airport (AGS) is expanding its effort to get high school students interested in a career in aviation.
The airport just wrapped up a two-week camp for high school juniors and seniors to learn about drone technology and its use by first responders. The camp was co-sponsored by Georgia Institute of Technology (GA Tech), Georgia State Patrol (GSP), and AGS Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting (ARFF) Department.
The camp was an extension of the AIR EDU program, which the airport announced in January. Both are part of the airport, demonstrating the wide range of careers available in aviation.
“Our focus is always to encourage kids in the community in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics),” Diane Johnston, Director of Business Development at AGS, told ABD. “We’ve had a STEM program for a very long time, so AIR EDU is just the next step in that process as we continue to try to improve our opportunities for students in the community to explore aviation.”
This first camp had a dozen students from area high schools. The students broke into four teams and learned how to work together, as Georgia Tech supplied the curriculum and equipment.
The students did not step into the classrooms with ready-made drones at their disposal. The teams were each handed a bag of parts from which they had to produce the design for their drone.
“The expectation was the kids would have to come in, design the aircraft, determine what problem they were going to solve with these aircraft,” said Johnston. “But as they were building the drones, it turned out that some of the pieces and parts that they had to build the drones with were defective or were not properly synchronizing with everything, and so they had to troubleshoot why and repair them.”
The teams also created their own real-world situation that would require first responders to be notified. Using that emergency, they designed the payload for their drone that would be capable of providing assistance. One team delivered an EpiPen to someone stranded on a boat. Another team delivered first aid supplies to an injured hiker.
From the moment the students first met to the successful completion of their task, the camp gave the teams tangible experience in a career in aviation, along with first responder opportunities. All done in a real-world setting.
“All of those organizations that are considering different ways to use this technology are looking for employees. They’re going to need that labor force,” said Johnston. “We’re ripe for some of these opportunities to come here and could create huge job pools.”
The demand for employees across all careers in aviation, from ground crews to maintenance staff, information technology, commercial pilots, and beyond, is obvious at AGS. StandardAero, which recently expanded, and Bravo Air will soon be joined by NetJets, which is building a private terminal and hangar at AGS. Each of those companies needs employees.
Johnston wants to have the trained workforce available locally.
“We do want to make sure that we have in Augusta, in the CSRA, the support for any of these organizations that want to grow here,” she said. “We want to keep these kids here locally. We will have some tremendous opportunities for local youth to stay here with their families in an area where they grew up. That’s what we want to do. We want to provide opportunity.”
