Success Stories
Summer Academies Help Students Explore Career Options
Story by Chris Cunningham
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| Featured on the cover: Daniel Iles, Aviation Maintenance program student and Justin Lam, Flight Technology student |
“The aviation summer academy is what made me decide to become an aviation mechanic.”—Daniel Iles
When Justin Lam and Daniel Iles attended Lane’s Aviation Summer Academy in 2005, they shadowed air traffic controllers, security personnel and helicopter mechanics at the City of Eugene Airport.
They drilled rivets into aircraft sheet metal. They also learned about aircraft instrument panels, and before the two-week camp ended, these enthusiastic campers had seven hours of flight time behind the control of a Cessna 152.
Iles and Lam learned about the Aviation Summer Academy when they were students at Cottage Grove High School and Churchill High School, respectively.
The college’s Summer Academies commenced in 2004 and have grown from a few aviation and culinary classes to 27 classes in seven subject areas—all called academies.
Lam remembers preparing for take-off as aviation instructor Harvey Birdseye called out, “Here we go!” The young pilot safely departed from the City’s airport, and minutes later, completed a smooth landing in Cottage Grove.
After that, Lam knew he wanted to enroll in Lane’s two-year Flight Technology program. “My goal is to become a commercial pilot and have a career in aviation,” says Lam.
The same was true for Iles.“The Aviation Summer Academy is what made me decide to become an aviation mechanic,” admits the 18-year-old Iles, who received a scholarship to attend the summer program following his senior year and is now enrolled in Lane’s two-year Aviation Maintenance program.
Iles’ dad and grand-dad were pilots. His great-grandfather was a “master mechanic,” and Iles himself has tinkered with car engines since childhood. But at the summer academy, he learned about the abundance of aviation career possibilities he never knew existed. Choosing which career track to follow was tough. Iles recalls thinking, “Do I want to be a pilot, a mechanic, or do I want to work somewhere else in the airport?”
Aviation Maintenance Technology Instructor Cliff Guse says students who complete the summer camp walk away with a much broader understanding of the occupations within the aviation industry. “Aviation has always had this ‘glamour’ to it, but students aren’t always aware of the many other occupations in the flight industry. There are many more people behind the scenes.” What’s more, Guse says, “Our maintenance technology grads don’t all work as air flight mechanics.” Some, for example, find employment with luxury recreational vehicle coach companies.
Lane’s other summer academies include French, geography, business (from starting a business to money management) and culinary arts (from cooking and baking to a how-to course on opening a restaurant). The College Prep Academy is geared to high school juniors and seniors, and a Human Services Academy offers a half-dozen courses covering such topics as “Working Effectively with Latino Families” and “HIV/AIDS and Other Infectious Diseases.” Also available is an International Academy for high school students that focuses on learning and practicing English as a second language. The driving force behind Lane’s “summer academies” concept is Tim Craig, executive director of Business, Workforceand Extended Learning. Craig says after he moved to Eugene from Hawaii, he thought about how “enriching” adult summer school would be if the college recruited professionals from a broad spectrum of professions and places as far off as Hawaii.
Craig is pleased that this summer the Summer Academies faculty is divided almost evenly between Lane instructors and professionals in the community. He hopes that by providing an array of relevant coursework, Lane can help both high school students and adult learners explore new careers, enhance professional knowledge bases—or learn for sheer pleasure.
If you have questions about Lane’s Summer Academies classes, call Enrollment Services at (541) 463-3100, or view the Summer Academies website, where the courses and contact information for individual courses are listed. When calling, be sure to identify that you are interested in the Summer Academies courses.
