May 2, 2018

GAMA and its aircraft and components manufacturing members are committed to educational initiatives and student development as a means of creating awareness of the industry for young people.

“It’s all about how we build that future workforce and we’re very proud of what GAMA’s been able to do,” President and CEO Pete Bunce said earlier this year at the association’s annual State of the Industry event.

Here are a few of the ways the industry reached out to young people in their communities and beyond:

  • Gulfstream has a collaborative partnership between the manufacturer, the public school system and the business community through the Savannah-based Student Leadership Program. The partnership provides high school students with opportunities to develop leadership skills and prepare for careers after graduation. The company also has a mentorship program and conducted site tours for hundreds of local students.
  • Embraer established the Embraer Foundation in 2017 to consolidate the company’s social investments in the United States. The foundation focuses on volunteering, entrepreneurship and grant programs. It also develops partnerships that directly support low income students in Brazil. The foundation devoted more than 880 hours of volunteering and community engagement activities, reaching more than 400 students through the entrepreneurship program. The foundation also awards 11 mini grants to nonprofit organizations in nine communities around the United States.
  • Click Bond, Inc. sponsored the robotics team FYRE 5480 (FIRST Young Robotics Engineers) in March 2017 with a monetary and parts donations. In addition, CB engineer Chris Palmer has mentored teams. The team of high school students from the Reno, NV area participated in a six-week program that challenged them to conceptualize the design of a robot, build and program the robot to do various tasks. After two intense days of competition which includes collaborating with other teams, fixing mechanical breakdowns and reprogramming robots, FYRE 5480 made it to the last round of the semifinals.
  • Employees of the Astronautics Corporation of America volunteered to work with middle school STEM students from Junior Achievement of Wisconsin’s JA Finance Park Golda Meir School; supported the first Aerospace Jam with the Milwaukee Bucks to help high school students learn about potential aerospace industry careers and college students connect with aerospace industry employers; and demonstrated the company’s RoadRunner electronic flight instrument at a Girls & STEM event at Discovery World Science + Technology Center in Milwaukee, WI.
  • Bombardier Business Aircraft held its sixth Inspiring Future Aviators Program, an educational partnership with the New England Air Museum that encourages young people to pursue aviation careers through interactive tours of the museum and Bombardier Business Aircraft’s Hartford Service Center. During the 2016-2017 school year, the program served over 180 local technical and vocational high school students at no cost to them or their schools. To date, the program has reached over 500 middle and high school students.

Additionally, each year GAMA sponsors an Aviation Design Challenge, which promotes STEM skills among high school students across the U.S. Learn more about the challenge.