Aviation4Girls promotes opportunities for women

After school, a group of middle and high school students returns to the classroom to dissect the physics of flight. They’re a part of Aviation4Girls, a six-week program led by Utah State University’s Wings in Aviation chapter designed to give girls aged 12 to 18 hands-on experience and teach them about life in the cockpit.  

“We’re just giving them a slight introduction into different parts of the aviation field and career — giving them experiences to see if they actually like it,” said Leah Schmid, a sophomore studying aviation management and chapter leader.  

According to Schmid, at Aviation4Girls, the goal isn’t just to talk about flying but to get comfortable with the equipment that makes it happen. The program offers a comprehensive introduction, acquainting the participants with the language of aviation, the world of unmanned aerial systems, maintenance and flight planning. The girls fly small drones, get hands-on maintenance experience and step into a few of the USU’s aviation simulators, including the air traffic control, Beoing 737 jet and Redbird simulators.  

“When I was younger, I loved aviation. I thought it was so cool, but it was very out of reach for me. I didn’t ever see myself truly going into it because I never had any experiences or anyone around me telling me, ‘Yeah, you can do that,’” Schmid said. “I think just letting young girls specifically know that it is within reach and that they are very capable of doing it and that it’s a place they are welcome is so important because I didn’t have that growing up.” 

Without that experience and support, Schmid said jumping into the field was a huge step outside of her comfort zone. She added certain stereotypes may also make it harder for women to break into the field. These can include the common belief aviation is unrealistic for women with families. She said many women may be scared to enter the field because of these standards and because it is a male-dominated field.  

Amy Monson, an aviation technology professional practice assistant professor at USU, said she believes a major barrier to entry into aviation is a lack of representation. 

“I think that it’s not necessarily harder for them to break into, but it’s one of those things where they don’t see people that look like them flying airplanes, so they don’t necessarily even think that it’s an option for them, even though it obviously is,” Monson said. 

Monson said the program has been around for about 10 years, and while it’s hard to quantify the impact, many students who participate in their youth programs — summer camps or Aviation4Girls — have returned to Utah State as students.

“We’ve actually got a picture of one of our current students when she was probably 10 years old, and now she’s in our maintenance program, so she went through the same class or the same course 10 years ago,” Monson said. 

Baron Wesemann, associate department head of the aviation technology program, interacted with that student when she took part in the program 10 years ago. 

“I was walking through the aviation lab last Wednesday, and one of our students turns around, and she goes, ‘Is that you, Baron? You took me up in an airplane 10 years ago,’” Wesemann said. “The very first year that we did this event, she came to our program, and it put something in her mind, and now she’s a student here at Utah State because of this.”