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Pasco high school students can earn pilot's license
Briona Arradondo reports
LAND O' LAKES, Fla. - Pasco County students can earn college credits and get a pilot’s license before graduating high school after Sunlake High School expanded its aeronautics magnet program this year.
Matthew Santos, 17, is one of several seniors working toward his private pilot’s license through the dual enrollment program with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
"When I first joined this, I had no idea how to control a plane all that much outside of video games," said Santos, who attends Sunlake High School. "The program is very fun, especially if you put your time and effort into it. You’ll enjoy it a lot. You’ll learn a lot."
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Their teacher, Air Force veteran and aviation instructor Mark Aragon, said he can make a pilot out of anyone.
"I would have loved to have something like this myself, being a pilot already, but I struggled to get there," said Aragon, and adjunct professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. "It wasn’t an easy step like it would be for the kids that are coming to Sunlake."
Aragon teaches through a dual-enrollment program between Pasco County schools and Embry-Riddle in Daytona Beach. This year, they expanded the program, offering even more opportunities.
"Whether it’s the unmanned program, whether it’s the manned pilot, whether it’s engineering, we have a lot of kids that are interested in NASA as well," said Aragon.
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It has pushed teens like Isabella Eby to try something new.
"My first year I was one of the only girls in the program to begin with, and I still am. So it was little intimidating at first having a lot of the boys in," said 17-year-old Eby. "As I started learning more and more, I realized I’ve got this. You know, I can do it.
The students have big dreams to fly and learn a lot of background in the classroom before taking those lessons out into the real world. Their work helps solve a larger problem, like the demand for pilots.
"Since COVID, a lot of the pilots have been furloughed, and they didn’t come back. Or some of them were close to retirement, and they retired," said Aragon. "You think, ‘Well okay, it’s just a pilot shortage.’ But pilots are everything not just in the transportation of people but also goods and services."
Every lesson is valuable, so some are going an extra step.
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"My end goal is to become an Air Force officer and work in air battle management," said sophomore Christopher Claudio.
Claudio, 15, joined the school’s Civil Air Patrol cadet program and hopes to become a private pilot.
"When I came into this program originally, I really didn’t know much about aviation. Just for someone who’s interested, I really knew nothing," said Claudio. "My parents were flight attendants. A few family friends have served in the Air Force. They’ve been my main inspiration for doing this program, actually."
No matter their career path, the students said boys and girls should try out dual enrolling.
"Don’t let them intimidate you. If you start doing it, and you like it, keep doing it. And then if it’s not for you, we have four different classes that branch out with aerospace," said Eby.
Pasco County schools said the aeronautics magnet program has been around for at least eight years, and it’s open to any Pasco high school student who applies. The Sunlake High School principal said this year is the first year for Sunlake High as a magnet school, and they hope to get some space classes in the program soon.