Space Coast Women in Aviation Alliance Girls in Aviation Day at Florida Institute of Technology College of Aeronautics

It was a pleasure to support the SCWAA Aviation Day, hosted by the Florida Institute of Technology College of Aeronautics and supported by the Space Coast Florida Tech Chapter of Women in Aviation International on Saturday February 10th, 2024. I rolled my book collection into the FIT hangar on Saturday morning and set up for 120+ high school and college attendees, and was thrilled to entertain and educate a steady stream of enthusiastic participants in Aviatrix ‘Bingo’, a game I created to share fun facts about women across aviation history whose stories are reflected in books.

2024 marks the second year that coordinators Kodey Bogart and Kathryn Creedy have put on the event designed to inspire and connect a young local audience with the diverse opportunities in the aviation and space industries. Bogart is a helicopter and aviation safety expert, founder and president of SCWAA, and author of the picture book Helo Girls: The Firefighting Pilot. Acting Vice President of SCWAA, Creedy is a veteran travel and aviation journalist and Editor in Chief at Future Aviation/Aerospace Workforce News. Living in an area with so many opportunities available in aviation and aerospace, the two want to expose more local women to the industry, let them know that almost no matter their interest, there’s a place for them in aviation and nurture a ‘homegrown’ future workforce. This year’s sponsors included 2Fly, Career Source Brevard, Sheltair, Blue Skies Entertainment, and KB Solutions.

WAI FIT Chapter President Emily Summey facilitated a fabulous panel of inspiring and accomplished aerospace professionals including: .Sasha Simms, Deputy Director Space Port Integration and Services at NASA; Jessica Curry, Senior Vice President of Supply Chain and Contracts for Sidus Space; Lisa Holland, President of Sheltair Aviation Services; and Katie Masterson, NASA Machinist. The event closed with a raffle including several books, two fixed wing and one rotary wing discovery flights.