Career pathways event showcases STEM fields for students
Posted: April 24, 2024
A helicopter circled above Heritage High School, made a few maneuvers and then hovered before landing on the football practice field.
This was the dramatic opening to a morning of career pathways explanations and demonstrations by the Celebrate Freedom Foundation and Virginia Natural Gas on April 24.
Students in the Governor's STEM Academy and NJROTC programs at Heritage learned about various career possibilities as they cycled through stations of guest presentations. The foundation had two helicopters and a Hunter Drone for students to see and learn about working with, and VNG used three stations with trucks, equipment and materials displayed to help tell its story of working to serve the community's natural gas needs.
Numerous students filmed the opening helicopter landing with their phones as they got ready to learn about these STEM workforce opportunities and the education required to do so.
"NJROTC cadets who are part of our aerial drone team were able to help assemble the Hunter Drone," said Lenise Cowling, program administrator for the Governor's STEM Academy. "Our engineering drone team will probably help disassemble the Hunter Drone. Virginia Natural Gas is sponsoring the event and showcasing career paths that students can take."
Celebrate Freedom Foundation, which is located in South Carolina, is a nonprofit education and historical organization created to further education efforts as well as "to honor past aviation pioneers and inspire future space and aviation pioneers," according to its website. The foundation focuses on education with a STEM-Science, Technology, Engineering and Math-education outreach program primarily for K-12 students.
