Families, kids turn out for inaugural Girls in Aviation Day
Sep. 26—BRIDGEPORT — Over 200 parents, guardians, and kids of all kinds turned out for the first-ever North Central West Virginia Girls in Aviation Day.
Saturday, Pierpont Community & Technical College's National Aerospace Education Center was packed with representatives from all aspects of the field of aviation. From pilot trainers to engine repair to NASA engineers, members of NCWV's billion-dollar aviation sector came out to promote young interest in the field, specifically for young women.
The driving force behind the event was Tracy Miller, president of the Mid-Atlantic Aerospace Complex, who has spent much of her career fostering female interest in a male-dominated industry.
"The turnout has been so fabulous that when the parents and kids started coming in, I was weeping tears of joy. I had no idea it would be this great," Miller said. "We knew that all the companies and partners committed, but we didn't know what it would be like once we were all here looking at each other."
Miller had 86 girls registered for the event, but the turnout was much higher. With families and siblings joining the festivities, the halls and hangars were packed all throughout the day.
While the event itself was for the kids, some of the people who were most impacted by the event were the women already in the field of aviation who didn't have this sort of exposure to these career paths at a young age.
Jennifer Harris works for MHI RJ, an aircraft repair company housed at the NCWV Airport. Saturday, she was with her four-year-old daughter Ellie flying drones and peeking inside the engines of planes.
"It's pretty exciting. Today really shows these girls that there are possibilities of all sorts in aviation. When I was growing up, I didn't know all this was available to me, so it means a lot to show it to the young girls," Harris said. "Here today, I love that [my daughter] is just as excited to be here as I am and that she gets the opportunity to see what mommy does and how cool it is."
Women make up around 24 percent of workers in aviation, according to Women in Aviation International, and West Virginia has a lower rate than that.
For many women, the primary way into the aviation industry was through the military. The last several years have seen a stark shift in that paradigm, and those that lived through it are glad to see young women not have the same hardships.
Jo Houston, an aviation mechanic, got her start through the military in the Florida panhandle, and now has settled in West Virginia working at the NCWV Airport.
"When I started, there were not a lot of women, and I knew that every room I went into I'd be second guessed and find myself in a room full of people different than me," Houston said. "But when you walk in somewhere and you see someone that's like you, it makes it a lot of difference.
"If we don't show girls that there are people like them in these jobs, it's hard for them to see themselves in these jobs. That's why events like this are so important... it tells me that things really are changing."
Reach David Kirk at 304-367-2522 or by email at dkirk@timeswv.com.
