• Scholarship Flight Training (SFT) is a non-profit 501 C 3 aviation careers school for teenagers. We teach math and science concepts in the context of aerospace science.
• SFT supplements high school curriculum.
• Students join our flight club, rent our aircraft while working toward a private pilot's license, study aeronautical engineering and earn high school and college credit. While in our school students have access to our club aircraft for solo flight and instruction.
• Student involvement with community service is one of the selection criteria.
• There is a shortage of pilots, mechanics and engineers nation wide which is predicted to increase during the next ten years.
• SFT alerts students of this opportunity and directs them to aviation programs
at the college level.
• Individuals and businesses in Bonner County,
as well as other corporations and foundations provide funding.
• Scholarship Flight Training admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students of our program. SFT does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship programs and other school-administered programs.
Scholarship Flight Training is completing it's 11th year! SFT is a 501 C 3 non-profit educational organization, a year round state certified high school vocational aviation careers school in Sandpoint Idaho. We serve public, private and home school students, offering after school programs, courses and tutoring with a focus on math and science including starting points in career tracks for pilots, aerospace engineers and aircraft mechanics. Our instructors are Idaho State certified teachers, grades 6-12, in math, science and vocational airways science as well as US Government certified flight instructors. We are located forty miles east of Spokane Washington in Sandpoint, Idaho.
SFT is becoming a model for the nation and part of the pipeline for new students to collegiate and military aviation programs. Many of our graduates continue their training at Embry Riddle, University of Illinois or the University of North Dakotas satellite aviation program at Spokane Falls Community College. Students often are able to receive college credit for our private pilot course and begin commercial and instrument training as they enter these programs. After gradating from a collegate program our students find jobs in the aerospace industry. Some of our students choose to enter military colleges and later fly for the armed services.
Our school supplements high school curriculum by offering at minimal cost, credited flight training courses for 12-17 year old students and aeronautical engineering courses for 9-12 graders.These clasees teach high school math and science content in a project based application with the goal of earning a private pilot's license, acquiring aeronautical engineering skills and learning the basics of aircraft mechanics. This spring we will expand our after school programming to include middle and elementary school introducing younger students to aviation and are beginning to work with the National Business Aviation Association and their AVKids programming http://www.avkids.com. We believe the future to aviation is at the high school level. European carriers have been recruiting and training high school students for years. As the demand for engineers, mechanics and pilots exceed the supply; programming in the US at the high school level is ramping up.
Our programs allow students to explore in flight aviation concepts studied in class. The academic programs draw on most disciplines taught in school classes to meet the challenges of flight training. The integration of disciplines provides a cohesive and coherent context, which is interest driven and project based. As a result, our students can maintain a high level of commitment and self-direction.
We navigate the map of the National Science Standards, directed by the context and content of our programs. Private pilot students study meteorology, math, map reading, navigation, physics, history, reading and writing skills within the context of a goal and project based curriculum. Students work together and with instructors to help design and modify curriculum, make presentations, assess theirs and their classmates' progress and build a portfolio of learning tools which addresses individual and group needs. We invite qualified students to compete for entry to our high school courses, which require commitment, energy, enthusiasm, dedication, self-introspection, collaboration and hard work from those accepted. The admission policy is non-discriminatory; applicants are selected without regard to race or religion or ability to pay tuition costs.
Students in the aerodynamics classes follow a curriculum designed by aeronautical engineers on our staff representing university, government and industry. This class introduces students to basic concepts of aeronautical engineering as well as career opportunities in that field and aircraft repair. Math, science and physics are the underlying content students study.
Scholarship Flight Training is an after school community outreach initiative that helps address the lack of direction so many students have. Programs like ours add diversity and enrichment to the public school curriculum that is constrained by state budgets. There are few high school courses that integrate subject areas in a project-based format teaching students practical skills with vocational implications that are compelling.
Class size has been restricted due to budget limitations. As we build an endowment we will become self-sustaining with no further need of funds from outside and will be able to maintain class sizes of 20-30 for our Private Pilot Program and the Introduction to Aerodynamics course. We are designing an advanced course that will introduce students to instrument and mountain flying. Graduates make presentations in the middle and elementary schools so children at a young age can begin to think about aviation as a career, which motivates them to excel in their studies.
Nationally there is a shortage of pilots, mechanics and engineers for military, commercial and business aviation, a shortage predicted to increase for the next decade. Our school alerts students of this need and prepares and guides them to take advantage of the opportunity.
We are in need of cash donations to our annual operating budget, endowment and equipment funds as well as donated aircraft and volunteer consultants and instructors. Donors can specify the use of their grant dollars. Sponsors can have links to their web site on ours.
Monetary donations are important to our growth, but equally so is networking and your guidance and presence within our organization. Please consider helping us grow our school and becoming part of an exciting new chapter in aviation education. Complete the application and show your support. Donors and members receive a unique memento to signify their role in our future. Please call to discuss how you can become involved in this exciting project. Tele: 208-610-0868 / or e-mail: chris@aviationed.org
