<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b> </b></span></b>About 700 elementary, middle and high school students visited Battery Creek High School today to learn more about the school’s growing aviation program and to receive hands-on instruction in aviation and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) courses.

“Battery Creek Aviation/STEM Day,” sponsored by the high school, the Celebrate Freedom Foundation and the U.S. Marine Corps, hosted students from Robert Smalls Middle School, Broad River Elementary School, Joseph S. Shanklin Elementary School and Battery Creek High.

Students toured the Battery Creek Aviation and Engineering Facility, including its flight simulator, aircraft construction program, and aviation and engineering classrooms.

“We hope to capture the imaginations and dreams of young elementary and middle school students on the opportunities they have in aviation, while at the same time furthering our high school students’ interests in the field,” said Col. (Ret.) Jack Snider, a veteran Marine pilot who retired as the Marine Corps Air Station’s commander last year and has coordinated the new additions to Battery Creek’s academic program.

In addition to touring the school’s aviation and engineering facilities, the students visited an AH-1 Cobra Attack Helicopter displayed on a trailer and speak with a helicopter pilot.  A second Cobra, owned by the Celebrate Freedom Foundation, flew twice around the school before landing on an athletic field to the shouts of students.

“There are so many terrific career opportunities right here in our neighborhood,” Snider said.  “There are high-paying positions that include aircraft mechanics, computer hardware engineers, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, aircraft avionics, aircraft painters, aircraft technicians and flight engineers.”
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