Wildcats take flight

In the upcoming years, new aviation courses could be implemented at Har-Ber.

“A lot of people don’t realize just how many different businesses and corporations we have here that involve aviation,” said Har-Ber math teacher, Mr. McMullen.

Northwest Arkansas has many airports in the area, and there could be many opportunities for students to become a part of the aviation field.

“There’s a lot of businesses and places that are needing workers to fill in jobs, and there’s not anybody who is graduating from high school to take these clubs,” said McMullen.

McMullen’s goal is to become a school who can provide the community with high school graduates who are able to immediately fill these positions.

“We wanna connect these students to the industry so that they can go straight from high school to high school diploma and then straight to a good paying job as soon as possible,” said McMullen.

The idea was proposed in the fall of 2018 with the curriculum established by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

“It’s a curriculum that is already aligned to next-gen science standards and common core standards,” said McMullen.

The class itself would be offered as elective credit, and there has been supportive of the idea from others in the building.

“Everybody here at the building has been extremely supportive. Dr. Griep has backed us quite a bit,” said McMullen.

Although there are a lot of things to look through and codes to make before offering these courses, there has been backing by the administration.

“If we determine that a course is approved and if it meets the needs of our students, then we will continue additional planning,” said principal Dr. Griep.

There are some restrictions when it comes to implementing these classes, and that is one of the reasons the class won’t be introduced sooner this year and maybe not even next year.

“In order to offer a new program of study, research needs to take place that takes all these elements into consideration,” said Springdale Superintendent of Curriculum, Marcia Smith.

The aviation club has been holding fundraisers to support the making of the class. They are going to do helicopter rides and they are even doing a Donors Choose project to help towards the cost of a flying simulator.

“We know that once they try it they’re gonna get hooked. It’s like Fortnite,” said McMullen.