Wright Scholars enjoy hospitality of 445th Airlift Wing

  • Published
  • By Stacy Vaughn
  • 445th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  Twenty five students participating in the 2010 Wright Scholar program toured a 445th Airlift Wing C-5 Galaxy to get a better understanding of the role of the aircraft in the Air Force during part of their orientation to the base July 23.

The Wright Scholar program is an Air Force Research Laboratory Propulsion Directorate-sponsored program designed to employ local high school and college-bound students during the summer. Those who are selected in this highly competitive program have the opportunity to work at AFRL with a scientist and engineer during the summer following their junior and senior year of high school. The program allows students the opportunity to work full-time during the summer for 10 to 12 weeks with a scientist or engineer assigned as a mentor. These mentors provide a research project for the scholars to pursue for the duration of the summer.

"The Wright Scholar program has allowed me to see firsthand what engineers do, while exposing me to every discipline of engineering possible. The program is a great opportunity where you can make money, learn, and meet some amazing people," Tera Joyce, Wright Scholar, said.

As part of their orientation to the base, Wright Scholar students visit various areas, including the 445th Airlift Wing.

"Each year our group of Wright Scholars visits a C-5 cargo plane. This event is one of the highlights of the summer, especially since most have never seen an aircraft of this magnitude. The best part is that the crew thoroughly explains what goes on in a C-5, and the students even get to sit in the cockpit with the pilot," Debbie Miller, Wright Scholar Program Administrator, said.

At the end of their C-5 tour, the students remarked about their participation in the Wright Scholar program, to include their tour of the C-5 Galaxy.

"The Wright scholar program allows tomorrows engineers to help face today's problems, and shows them that the possibilities of what they can do are endless. I'm glad we were able to visit the 445th Airlift Wing. Seeing the C-5 really opened my eyes to how far the Air Force has come, and made me imagine what will be possible in the future, Tera Joyce, Wright Scholar, said.

"I enjoyed the C-5 tour thoroughly and learned a lot about the plane," John Hollkamp, Wright Scholar, said.

"It was a very cool experience to go up into the cockpit and the cargo area. It was also neat to know some of the cool facts, like it takes more than 25 million ping pong balls to fill up the cargo area and that the cargo area can fit 6 Greyhound busses," Jason Mossing, Wright Scholar, said.