Starr’s Mill continues to prove that it will keep adapting and reaching for new opportunities for the students. Now they are ready to reach for the sky.

Starr’s Mill High School already offers several pathways to help guide students toward their future careers. Now the school plans to add a pathway for students interested in aviation and the mechanics behind aviation.

“We are currently investigating possibly offering one or both of those pathways,” Principal Allen Leonard said. “We sent a survey out to future students, students 6th grade through 10th grade, to see what the interest level would be. If every student who said ‘yes’ to that survey took the course, it would be our most successful pathway.”

The pathway will be available for rising freshmen and sophomores. Through the pathway, students will learn skills for either flying or flight mechanics. Aviation operations and aviation maintenance are the two specific pathways to be offered. They both will start with the same first year course. Then they will venture into different, more program-focused classes. 

Aviation operations will center on aspiring pilots. The final test during their third and final year will be the written portion of the pilot test. Students who finish this pathway will only need the flying hours to get their pilot’s license. 

Aviation maintenance is a similar structure, but the courses for this pathway will focus on the skills needed to maintain, work on, and engineer planes.

This program has called in major aviation entities in the surrounding area. In a meeting about the program, school administrators sat down with groups from Delta, Fed-Ex, and Air Force officials. Starr’s Mill High School will be working with these large groups and some smaller flying companies to help advise this program.