Group working to engage students in aerospace careers

These future aerospace professionals walked right past potential employers. The good stuff - candy - lay beyond American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Virgin Airlines.

Students ignored the recruiters and headed for the first bowl of candy at the Delta Air Lines booth. They grabbed handfuls of Laffy Taffy and stuffed them into the free purple FedEx backpacks they had acquired upon entering.

Vanessa Garcia, a fifth-grader from Denver, was one of about 40 youths who attended an aviation industry conference hosted by the International Black Aerospace Council, or IBAC, July 30 through Aug. 4 at the Las Vegas Hotel, 3000 Paradise Road.

Kids from around the country attended the conference to explore careers in aerospace. During the week, students met with representatives from military and aviation-specific colleges, learned about scholarships and attended lectures from industry professionals.

But 10-year-old Vanessa has her life figured out already. She said she wants to join the Air Force, make her family proud and protect her country.

She started flying with an instructor a year ago as part of the Experimental Aircraft Association's Young Eagles program. The EAA is a nonprofit organization that supports recreational flying.

"They let you take the stick for a while (during flight)," Vanessa said. "I get to be free in the air."

She and other students also met Roscoe Brown, a member of the original Tuskegee Airmen, the nation's first black fighter pilots who fought in World War II.

"It was cool," Vanessa said. "I got his autograph."

For 18-year-old high school senior Mariana Sabillon of Concord, N.C., meeting Brown was "like meeting the president."

"Because of them, we're here," she said.

That kind of excitement is the reaction organizers had hoped to achieve.

"We all have the same mission: To reach out to minority youngsters and get them interested in aviation careers," said Tony Marshall, a pilot and the west region director for the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals, an IBAC member organization.

"Obviously, if they want to go flying, we'll help them. But we get several who have no interest in flying. We teach them it takes a team to get an airplane in the air safely and back down."

Marshall said organizers hope to have the conference in Las Vegas again next year and get more participation from youths. The conference is free and open to any student, minority or not. For more information about IBAC and updates on the 2013 conference, visit blackaerospace.com.

Contact View education reporter Jeff Mosier at jmosier@viewnews.com or 224-5524.