Family expo day at Helix Aviation Academy showcases schools

Da'Shawn Johnson
·1 min read

BATON ROUGE La. (BRPROUD) — Helix Aviation Academy had an expo day on Saturday, April 20 to show families and students the importance of its schools in Baton Rouge.

There are three Helix charter schools across the city. Helix Mentorship STEAM Academy and Helix Legal Academy are located in downtown Baton Rouge and Helix Aviation Academy, the only aviation school in the city, is located next to the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport.

Castille said the expo showed how much of an impact the school has made in the community.

“It’s incredibly important to have schools like this in our community. Children get to see themselves in ways that they never imagined,” said Preston Castille, president and CEO of Helix Community Schools.

The schools offer college-level courses, creative courses like theatre and art and even classes to teach students how to become pilots.

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Andrea Richardson, director of media and arts at Helix Mentorship STEAM Academy, said the school offers different programs to give students a creative outlet.

The mentorship academy started its band program in December 2023, the first band at the school. Band director Micheal Bingham said that the majority of students in the band had never learned how to play an instrument until last year. He said he’s proud of his students, and how life-changing the school is for the students.

“Helix has been a very innovative school and they’ve definitely been pushing the trend and trying to set a culture here in Baton Rouge,” said Bingham.

Castille said the campuses will soon expand to other parishes across the state like St. Landry Parish. He said that he’s excited about the future and what’s to come.

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