The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) has awarded the Patuxent Partnership more than $250,000 to begin the St. Mary’s County Public Schools National Flight Academy. The program, which is expected to start in August of 2013, will be housed at the James A. Forrest Career and Technology Center south of Leonardtown. The award was announced at Wednesday’s school board meeting, with representatives of NAWCAD, Patuxent Partnership, the Patuxent Naval Air Museum and St. Mary’s College of Maryland in attendance
The National Flight Academy is a subsidiary of the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. The academy is an educational activity authorized but not endorsed or financially supported by the United States Navy. The St. Mary’s flight academy will be one of only a handful of such facilities in the country. There is one in Pensacola, FL that was visited by several members of the team that developed the plan, including NAWCAD Executive Director Gary Kessler, and Patuxent Partnership Executive Director Bonnie Green, both of whom were at the announcement.
The flight academy announcement comes close of the heels of the SMCPS being awarded $2.5 million over three years from the Department of Defense to create a STEM for All Students program. That money will be used to acquire laptops for all science classrooms in the school system. (See /news/index.cfm/fa/viewstory/story_ID/29801 ).
St. Mary’s County School Superintendent Dr. Michael Martirano said the science academy would be an extension of and intermeshed with the STEM curriculum. He said the details of the new program were in the early stages of being worked out but he was confident that everything will be in place by the start of the next school year.
One of the details to be worked is the funding for the programs after the $250,000 is expended. That money will be used for equipment and salaries for those who are running the program. “There will be issues of the budget that we are going to have to identify during the upcoming budget cycle,” Martirano said. The financial details will be included in the school board budget which will be presented to the county commissioners early next year.
Green said she was confident there was enough money with the grant to get the program rolling and hinted that the Patuxent Partnership might be willing to contribute more at a later date.
“This is the very beginning part of many things yet to come,” Dr. Martirano said during the announcement. He said the program would involve simulated real-life experiences that would include a lot of “gaming” to engage young people.
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