Large Crowd and Alumni Presence at Averett Aviation Day

Posted on March 20th, 2017 by Danielle Staub

Aviation Day 2017Prospective aviation students joined current students and 16 aviation alumni from national, regional, freight and corporate airlines for this year’s Aviation Day at Averett University.

Travis Williams, Averett’s chief flight instructor, welcomed the group by highlighting the upgrades and changes over the last year and a new partnership coming in the near future. Williams noted that the program formed two new partnerships in the last year with PSA Airlines and Piedmont Airlines, which resulted in jobs for six students right after graduation.

“We will have the latest and the greatest technology out there,” Williams said speaking of the coming year.

Since 2010, the program at Averett has grown from 40 to around 70 students. Alumni spoke highly of the growing program, calling it “tight knit.”

“We talk to each other throughout the year. We are all truly very close,” Bernie Morrell ’88 said.

As part of Aviation Day, prospective and current students had the opportunity to sit down, have a conversation and ask any and all questions they wanted with the alumni. This part of the day allows current students to ‘pick their brains’ about what is ahead for them, and for prospective students to find out what it takes and what it’s really like to be a pilot.

“All the answers are all right here, so ask,” Morrell said.

“It’s an exciting time here at Averett. I wish we had this opportunity when we were here as students and prospective students,” Tim Carter ’94 said.Aviation Day 2017 2

“I’ve never seen so many people interested in aviation. This is great,” said Rodney Adams, prospective student from Boston, Ma. “There is a diverse group of people in this room and I get to talk to everyone.”

Adams, who is deciding whether or not to attend Averett in the fall, says he was getting all his questions answered and is impressed with the program.