With the importance placed on STEM learning, and aerospace and defense now the second leading industry in Oklahoma, Newcastle Schools is helping students to meet the needs of tomorrow’s workforce demand.
Newcastle High School is now teaching the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) “You Can Fly” curriculum. Newcastle is one of 87 Oklahoma high schools, teaching the AOPA program, and Oklahoma has nearly double the number of any other state, according to the Oklahoma Aerospace & Aeronautics Commission.
“Oklahoma Aeronautics has been fueling aero education for many decades, and while in those early years, we started small, there were still important foundational efforts that have led us to have one of the most robust aero education programs in the country,” said Director of the Aeronautics Commission, Grayson Ardies. “The work we are doing now is putting students in the captain’s seat insofar as their ability to choose their future aerospace career paths. We are seeing students choosing Oklahoma colleges to pursue engineering or aviation degrees, looking toward military service in order to serve our country, or joining a CareerTech aviation maintenance program to become an aircraft mechanic.
“These are exciting times to live in Oklahoma, and many parents and students are realizing that taking aviation classes in high school can motivate and vector them into selecting one of the many available job opportunities that the aerospace industry has to offer.”
Newcastle aviation teacher Jordan Heatly, who was in the Air Force before turning to teaching, said the school system has had a great response from students.
“This year being our first year offering aviation, we hoped to get maybe two full hours of Aviation 1, but we were overwhelmed with interest and are offering four full classes of aviation with all four grades in each class for a total of 102 students in Aviation 1,” Heatly said.
Heatly grew up in Norman and graduated from Norman High School in 2002, and then from the University of Oklahoma in 2008. He was in the U.S. Air Force from 2011 to 2019 as a SATCOM and radio technician, attached as the ground component for aircraft such as the E-4B NAOC and the RC135S Cobra Ball.
“Over my eight years I was stationed at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi, RAF Croughton England, and Offutt AirForceBase,Nebraska,” Heatly said.
He was also deployed across the globe to places such as Afghanistan, Qatar, Japan, and Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean.
Upon leaving the Air Force, Heatly said he went back to school at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in Chickasha and completed a certificate program in History in 2021. He was a student teacher and a long-term substitute at Irving Middle School in Norman, and then was hired at NewcastleHighSchoolinApril 2022. Heatly taught Oklahoma History, Freshman Success, and World History last year at NHS, but he continues his fondness for flight.
Heatly said, “My love for aviation started long before I joined the Air Force. I have loved everything related to planes since I was able to look up. So when the opportunity to start the Aviation Program opened up last year, I was extremely excited to get the job.”
Heatly said Newcastle Schools is looking to expand the curriculum offering in coming years.
“As we continue through the AOPA Curriculum, we will be able to offer Aviation 1 and 2 next year. In Aviation 1 we concentrate on the history of
human flight, and the forces that enable us to take to the skies,” Heatly said. “We are a STEM-oriented course and have already built rocket balloons to carry a payload to the ceiling this semester and will be flying drones in class tomorrow (September 1).
“We will also be building our own hot air balloons, gliders, wind tunnels to design and test aerofoils, space capsules to test for air tightness in a vacuum chamber, and other engineering experiments.”
Newcastle Schools Superintendent Dr. Cathy Walker said, “I am so excited that our students will be receiving aviation training and the opportunity to learn about drones and be able to fly them. There are so many career options available in these two fields and because of this new program, Newcastle students are getting real life experiences to prepare them for these career pathways.”
According to Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission, the AOPA courses, which start students in Aviation I as a freshman in high school, are laid out through Aviation IV as seniors complete capstone projects. The courses are designed to capture the imagination of students from diverse backgrounds and to equip them with the tools to pursue advanced education and careers in aviation, aerospace, and aeronautical fields.
Heatly said, “As we progress into the later courses, we focus more into pilot knowledge, with an aim to have those who complete all four years well ahead of the game as seniors to take on a career in Aviation as pilots, engineers, maintenance crew, etc., and a capstone project in Aviation 4 may be completing pilot ground school or interning at our local airport or with industry partners.”
Paula Kedy, who has a Masters in Education and is the Oklahoma Aerospace and Aviation education coordinator, said, “Students are rediscovering the importance of math and science as they calculate the lift of an airplane at the end of a runway, how much fuel they will need to reach their destination airport, and why pilots sump and check fuel samples. This is STEM education for a generation of students that will usher us from the age of aviation to optimizing advanced air mobility.”
The end result of the Newcastle program is to set up students for success in whatever career they end up choosing.
“Our goal in the aviation program is aligned with Newcastle High School’s Career Pathways initiative. We want every student to leave NHS with a plan of what they want to do with their lives through internships and career education,” Heatly said. “This program is perfect for those students who are interested in the field of aviation. The Aviation and Aerospace Industry in Oklahoma produces around $44 billion in economic activity every year, making it the second largest economic engine in our state. Having our students be able to enter anywhere in that industry is setting them up for success in ways few other career pathways can in the state.
“Should our aviation students not pursue a career in aviation, I am confident that the problem solving and engineering skills they gain in my classroom are transferable to any job, not just flying.”
Heatly said he and the NPS administration are just as excited as the students to offer this program. He said there will be plenty of opportunities to get to know the program and to help out.
“I have had an amazing outreach from families in Newcastle who have ties to the Aviation Industry and their support will be invaluable to giving our students real-world knowledge of their career pathway,” Heatly said.
He said there will also be fundraising opportunities for the program coming soon, and community support is essential.
As well, Newcastle Schools was one of several Oklahoma schools receiving a grant from the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission. They were given $9,600, which Heatly said is earmarked for classroom experiment supplies, aviation shirts, field trips, and a Gleam Virtual Cockpit Flight Simulator for class use.
