| Young girls encouraged to take their dreams to the skies |
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| Wednesday, 03 June 2009 | |||
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Staff writer When she was in sixth- grade, Lindsey Meyer remembers telling her friend that she wanted to be a pilot when she grew up. A boy overhead her and told her that girls cannot be pilots. A decade later, Meyer is a pilot for Mesaba Airlines, based out of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Meyer, Meeks and St. Cloud State University instructor Angie Olson met May 26 with second and fifth grade Andover Elementary School female students interested in flying. The professionals introduced the students to an airplane cockpit and what the different controls and dials mean and how pilots communicate with the radio control tower and air traffic control. The main lesson to the young girls was they can do anything they want if they work hard and never give up. “When you have something in your life that you want to do, if you just break it down into little pieces, learn it a little bit at a time, there is nothing that you can’t do,” Meeks said. Seeing what all the gadgets in the cockpit do interested fifth-graders Taylor Finnes, Carley Heiling and other students. What fifth-grader Krysta Larson enjoys about flying is taking off and seeing the buildings from above. An alum visits When Meyer was in first grade at Andover Elementary, she wrote an essay on how she wanted to be a pilot when she grew up. She became connected with flying because her father designed avionics for Honeywell and some of his friends were in flying clubs and would take Meyer up in the air. Meyer was fascinated with pilots’ lifestyles. “At that age, you don’t know the work behind it,” she said. “You see the magic of being a pilot.” The magic for Meyer is being able to travel to different cities. It’s why she still loves flying today. “I have an office with a great view,” Meyer said. “I love to travel. For me, to be able to travel while working it’s like getting the best of both worlds.” Lucida Meyer remembers when her daughter came home from school and announced like it was a fact that boys are better at math and science than girls and that she probably could not be a pilot. Lucida thought that it was time for an introductory flying lesson. “Even if she changed her mind about being a pilot, I didn’t want her to carry that concept with her into high school,” Lucida said. Not long after that, her parents gave her a 12th birthday gift she will never forget. She got an introductory to flying lesson in a small Cessna plane out of the Anoka County-Blaine Airport. From that moment on, Lindsey was determined to be a pilot. She did not realize at that age, but today, Meyer knows that this 12th birthday present was a turning point in her life. “To me it said I can choose whatever I want to do,” she said. Lucida is a second- grade teacher at Andover Elementary School and hosted one of the two May 26 presentations. Anne Rozek hosted the presentation for fifth-grade girls. Lucida said it was a thrill to have her daughter in the classroom. “When I watched Lindsey that day in class I thought of when she was at the age of those girls and wondered who might be touched in their life’s journey because of her,” Lucida said. “You just never know...” Becoming a pilot There are numerous ways to become a professional pilot. Meeks enlisted in the Army. Lindsey went to college. Flying could also be a hobby
A pilot does not necessarily need a college degree to fly, Lindsey said, and some pilots get a degree in something other than flying to have a plan B. She graduated from the University of North Dakota in 2008 with a commercial aviation degree of bachelor and aeronautical science. Lindsey’s plan B if she is not able to fly someday would still be in the aviation industry and probably as an instructor. Before she became a pilot with Mesaba Airlines, she taught at the University of North Dakota and for Thunderbird Aviation out of the Crystal reliever airport. Lindsey said you can take introductory flying lessons at any time. You must be 17 years old before you can get your pilot’s license. Eric Hagen is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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