Steubenville STEM building to boost aviation opportunities
Air aviation news- STEUBENVILLE — Steubenville City Schools’ new STEM building will benefit aviation and aerospace engineering students with increased educational opportunities and more activity space, the program instructor said on Dec. 12.
“This is going to bring us into the 21st century,” said Natalie Campana, licensed pilot and AeroSTEM instructor for Steubenville High School’s Career Technical Education program.
Campana identified improvements the new building will offer during a tour of the facility the morning of Dec. 12. Bryan D’Aurora, director of technology for SCS and construction coordinator, helped lead the tour for three members of the Jefferson County Regional Airport Authority, a partner of the AeroSTEM program.
Scheduled for completion at the end of March, the $16.7 million building was paid for using Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund money, D’Aurora said. It will connect to the existing high school building using a catwalk, necessitating the school’s current CTE classroom be transformed to become a major thoroughfare.
Notable features include outdoor and rooftop learning environments, a greenhouse, a medical and dental clinic staffed by CHANGE Inc. for students and faculty, a new school store, community areas and a makerspace.
One of the building’s most important features for Campana — other than the multimedia studio, as she also instructs the media arts program — is the new AeroSTEM room. Lacking a drop ceiling for a more industrial look, the much larger space will be much-needed relief for the program, Campana said. Also, the polished concrete floor will be beneficial for the program’s largely project-based learning.
Among new features will be aerospace engineering equipment to build air foils, gliders, rockets and airplane components, Campana said, which will allow for more instruction on electrical engineering and airframe and powerplant mechanics, or general aircraft maintenance.
“The students are excited not only for a new space but for the projects that they’re going to get to create and build based on their CTE skills,” Campana said.
D’Aurora said SCS is seeking grant funding for state-of-the-art, full-motion flight simulators. Campana added that, though the exact models have not been selected yet, they will likely come from Redbird Flight Simulations Inc., which developed SCS’s current TD2 model simulators.
Created in 2016, the AeroSTEM program currently has more than 100 students participating in a course curriculum that provides them with preparatory learning for flight school or various grounded jobs in the aviation industry, Campana said. Students who complete the program will graduate with a CTE aviation seal on their diploma from the state of Ohio.
D’Aurora said, “There are multiple aspects of aviation. … You don’t have to leave the ground to be able to have a great job in aviation.”
Overall, Campana said, the new building is going to increase the “horizon of our students’ learning opportunities” in the AeroSTEM curriculum. Increased learning capabilities will lead to more job opportunities, she said, diversifying students’ skills in an industry with a lot of local potential, given the proximity to Pittsburgh International Airport and the Jefferson County Airpark.
A key element in the AeroSTEM program’s formation was close collaboration with local community members and stakeholders to ensure industry standards were being met, Campana said. On the program’s advisory board are individuals from the FAA, Pier Aviation and the regional airport authority.
Present for the Dec. 12 tour were airport authority board members Geary Bates, Dustin VanFossen and Brandon Reese, who said the airport authority’s collaboration with the AeroSTEM program includes advisory work as well as permission to use the airport facility for learning sessions. The day before the tour, the board approved sending a letter for SCS’s Career Technical Education Equipment Grant Program application for its aviation program
Reese commended Campana for her efforts to make the AeroSTEM program a success. Campana, a Federal Aviation Administration-certified flight instructor, offers refresher courses for adult pilots.
“Aviation is all about safety,” Reese said. “(For) the people who are part of the airport community, when you teach them and raise their skill level and knowledge, it makes the whole environment safer. … It starts in aviation; if you learn how to use your mind, energy and enthusiasm to get something done, that translates into every aspect of (one’s life).”
