State’s aviation agency lauded by NASAO for its aerospace and aviation education emphasis

Director of Aeronautics Grayson Ardies, left, and OAC staff members gather together at the NASAO Awards program earlier this fall in Greenville, S.C. (photo courtesy)

The Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission (OAC) was recently recognized by a national aviation association for its unique Aerospace & Aviation Education Program.

During its annual convention and trade show earlier this fall in Greenville, S.C., the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO), a nationally recognized voice for the public interest in aviation on behalf of the states and territories, presented OAC with its Most Innovative State Program Award. The award recognizes unique and service-oriented state aviation programs, projects and activities.

Although OAC has routinely awarded aviation education grants to aviation-related school systems and organizations over a span of 30 years in order to promote STEM education and to encourage more young people to pursue careers in the aviation and aerospace industry, it wanted to do more.  Last August, OAC awarded $451,157 in grant funds to 56 organizations statewide for their aviation education programs, which represented one of the largest budgets nationwide dedicated toward aerospace and aviation education.

In addition, in 2017 OAC expanded its emphasis by adding aviation and aerospace curricula at all school levels. Attention was especially given toward expanding the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) “You Can Fly” High School Aviation Curriculum. That successful outreach effort led to the agency being recognized by AOPA as the top state in the nation for the number of schools approved to teach its aviation curriculum. There are 57 high school across the state that are currently teaching the AOPA curriculum.

In a OAC news release announcing NASAO’s Most Innovative State Program Award, State Aeronautics Director Grayson Ardies said his agency hopes to encourage other states to implement similar programs to address national workforce issues.

“Today, Oklahoma is leading the country with our innovative AERO Ed Program by having the largest number of AOPA “You Can Fly” High Schools, along with one of the largest aerospace and aviation education grant budgets focused on a wide variety of educational programs. We also had the privilege to be selected by the FAA for one of their Workforce Development Grants for our statewide workforce development initiative,” he said.

OAC’s grant program, seminars and conferences routinely impact close to 30,000 students and hundreds of teachers, counselors and superintendents each year.