BY JEFF YAPALATER
Leaders of Girl Scout
troops from the Bronx held
Girl Scout Aviation Day with
the support of the Greater
NY Chapter of Ninety-Nines
(99ers) at Vaughn College of
Aviation and Technology.
According to Troop leader
Tarin Rivera, “We wanted to
give our ninth grade girls the
opportunity to experience
things there are not normally
exposed to at home or school.”
This was clearly the goal
as sixteen young women had
the chance to be introduced
to many facets of aviation by
interactions with aviation
professionals in leaning about
weather, navigation and prefl
ight protocols in hands-on
learning modules.
They also climbed up to the
unique Vaughn Air Traffi c
Control Training Tower where
United pilot Karen Leckey
pointed out the LaGuardia
runway with a detailed
descrtiption of airport airline
procedures.
Girls lined up to test their
skills in one of the Vaughn
fl ight simulators. From the
looks on their faces, the
scouts thoroughly enjoyed the
virtual reality of being behind
the controls, taking off, fl ying
and landing.
Vaughn graduate and
Republic Air pilot Margarita
Cholakova guided many
through the process and
shared their enthusiasm
during the simulator learning
module time.
According to Rivera who
organized the event,“This is
Inspiration stems from Cradle of Aviation
42 AIRPORT VOICE, APRIL 2019
United Pilot Karen Leckey shows Civil Air Cadet and Girl Scouts an
overview of the LaGuardia runway from the Vaughn Tower. Photo by Jeff
Yapalater
one of many trips we take to
help expose girls to different
potential career paths. We
want to break stereotypes
for all our scouts from across
cultural and economic
backgrounds.
After the troops had
fi nished the tour of Vaughn
and completed their training
modules they gathered
together for a pizza lunch,
but not before the special
award presentation by Lt.
Col. Civil Air Patrol Jacqui
Sturgess. She awarded each
of the scouts with a certifi cate
of completion, a 99ers patch,
along with a backpack and
keychain from Vaughn.
Excited troopers fi lled the
room with their uniforms
adorned with dozens of badges
signifying their completion
of learning in Aviation and
others in each special category
of knowledge and interest.
The Girl Scouts have many
formal badges of achievement
but not one for Aviation. These
sixteen girls have completed
the fi ve steps for qualifi cation
for such a badge. Rivera
said that the Girl Scouts
are working on an Aviation
badge and she hopes to be
able to present these badges
to eligible scouts later in the
year at an event at the Cradle
of Aviation.
On International Women’s
Day, Governor Andrew
M. Cuomo called for the
passage of the Equal Rights
Amendment this legislative
session. When the U.S.
Congress passed the federal
Equal Rights Amendment
in 1972, New York was one
of the fi rst states to vote for
its ratifi cation. However,
almost fi ve decades later,
the federal ERA still has
not been ratifi ed, and while
Governor Cuomo has pushed
for a State-level ERA, New
York’s constitution still does
not guarantee equal rights
on the basis of sex.
“As the Trump
Administration wages a
war on women, it is more
important than ever before
that New York fi ght back
to protect our progress and
enshrine gender equality
in our state constitution,”
Governor Cuomo said. “It is
unacceptable that more than
100 years after women won
the right to vote in New York
State, our Constitution still
does not ban discrimination
based on sex or afford women
equal protections under the
law. That needs to end this
year. We must pass the ERA
this legislative session to
ensure New York continues
Governor Cuomo against Equal
Rights foot-dragging.
to serve as the beacon of
progress for the nation.”
“On International Women’s
Day and every day, we honor
the women who came before
us by continuing to fi ght for
justice and equality,” said
Lieutenant Governor Kathy
Hochul. “We have made
signifi cant progress, but we
still have more work to do to
ensure rights and protections
for women. As part of our 2019
Women’s Justice Agenda,
we’re pushing for a new, next
generation Equal Rights
Amendment that refl ects
today’s priorities for attaining
true gender parity once and
for all.
A special panel presentation
featuring women in the Science.
Technology Engineering and
Mathematics (STEM) was held at
the Cradle of Aviation in honor of
Women’s History Month. This event
was designed especially for middle
and high school girls with the aim of
opening their minds to a career in one
of these disciplines.
Honored panelists included Space
Shuttle and Space Lab Astronaut
Nicole Stott, Vaughn College President
Sharon DeVivo and News 12 Carol
Silva.These top women in their fi elds
shared personal experiences, feelings
and thoughts about their challenges
and to empower these young women to
enter these career fi elds.
It was noted that the percentage
of women in STEM jobs is low, with
Black, Latinx and other women of
color underrepresented in thee fi eld;
STEM careers are more lucrative;
STEM careers represent the future of
the economy.
Silva moderated the panel and
enthusiastically called upon the
News Reporter Carol Silva (left), Space Shuttle Astronaut Nicole Stott
(middle), and President Vaughn College Sharon DeVivo (right) were
panelists at a young woman’s STEM event at the Cradle of Aviation.
young attendees to ask questions of
the panelists and take advantage of
this opportunity to interact with these
successful women.
Stott, DeVivo and Silva all spoke
about the possibilities of woman in
professional fi elds. Each one had
their own story about the hardships
and means to overcome the blocks
encountered along the path to success.
Devivo asked the young women to
“ fi nd their voice”; Stott reminded
them to just “do it”, and Silva literally
asked these young women to “speak
up” in order to fi nd the confi dence,
inspiration and passion when it comes
to pursuing a career in spite of the
obstacles they may fi nd.
Cradle of Aviation Executive
Director Jennifer Baxmeyer and
Education Director Catherine
Gonzalez have been behind the
museums’s STEM events working with
local schools, parents and speaking at
educational conferences on the need
to involve more students into these
programs and especially young women
as they plan for their futures.
Vaughn & 99s
welcome girlscouts
Celebrating International
Women’s Day
Young women given tour of college