About 32 Groves High School students will pilot a dual enrollment aviation manufacturing and service program next semester, paving the way for a new aviation choice program at the school, Savannah-Chatham County public school administrators said Thursday.
While Woodville Tompkins Technical and Career High School offers dual enrollment courses in aviation, the Groves program will allow more students to earn college credit and prepare for careers in a field where demand is strong. Groves High School's proximity to the airport and Savannah Technical College School of Aviation also were factors in locating the new program at the school in Garden City. Groves also has a logistics choice program.
"The kids see the airplanes going past every day," said Sharon Ross, the choice program coordinator for Groves. She said the pilot group of Groves students will be ambassadors for the program. "They'll give us an idea of what we can do to really sharpen things," Levett said.
The program, a partnership between SCCPSS, Savannah Technical College and Gulfstream, will be free to students. In their junior year, most students can earn an Aircraft Assembly Technician II certificate and in their senior year, most students can earn an Aircraft Structural Diploma.
The aviation manufacturing program will expose students to work-based learning and opportunities for internships at Gulfstream, she said. "Job opportunities will be plentiful right here in the Savannah area," Levett said.
"The things we teach are taught in a state-of-the-art facility in the aviation training facility," said Gail Eubanks, the executive director of institutional advancement and communications at Savannah Technical College. For the past three years, 99% of Savannah Technical College's aviation students who complete a program are working in the aviation field, Eubanks said. "So that's time well spent. You test your aptitude, skills and enthusiasm and lo and behold, you're one working in the field."
As a parent of two sons, Eubanks said, "I know you want that career success. You all want to make a lot of money, right? Aviation is the thing."
But Angie Lewis, senior director of Savannah-Chatham County's Office of College and Career Readiness, said the program is also an opportunity for students to "learn, learn, learn."
Gulfstream hires mechanics, aviation technicians and aircraft testers, said Pete Mitchell, director of manufacturing at Gulfstream. The company intends to hire about 300 people to build the G500 and G600 aircraft by the first of January, he said.
"It's a safe, clean, well-lit environment," he said. "We do 99% of our work inside, so you're not outside in the Savannah heat and bugs all day long."
Parent Peggy Woodson said her family, including son John Woodson, a student at Godley Station K-8, recently moved from Ohio and liked what they heard Thursday evening about the program. "I'm just blown away," she said. "We can't wait for our eighth grader to participate next year in ninth grade," she said. "This is a wonderful program, cutting edge," she said.
Willy Woodson said the program made him yearn to return to high school. "I wish I could go back to high school like a little kid," he said. "I'm impressed."
To apply for the choice program, students must have a grade point average of 80% or higher for the past three semesters in core academic subjects and foreign language and satisfactory conduct. They must have MAP test scores of 219 for reading and 227 for math, but the school district accepts the student's highest score of any MAP test taken, said Amy Perry, the choice CTAE coordinator for Savannah-Chatham County schools.
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