It’s 8:45 in the morning and seventh grader Jadon Bargo is cleared for takeoff to Orlando.

As he adjusts the settings on his Cessna plane, Jadon eases up on the throttle to give it some boost. The plane gains speed to reach 55 knots and begins to lift into the air over Cincinnati’s CVG airport and Jadon is on his way to Florida.
Well, virtually at least.

Fitting for National Aviation Month, STEM teacher Brian McDowell is approving all his students’ “flight plans” before setting them loose into the air on one of the flight simulators at Highland Middle School. Purchased with grant money from the Fort Thomas Education Foundation, McDowell’s simulators give real world context to his lesson plans and give students like Bradon a chance to realize flight from a safe but realistic perspective.

“Flying was definitely not an interest I ever thought I’d have,” says Bargo. “I’m not necessarily scared of heights, but I’m not fond of them, and flying this makes me want to do it more. Sitting in an actual plane doing this would make my heartbeat faster, but it is definitely something I’m interested in now.” 

McDowell’s idea to take rote learning into active and practical application clearly excites the students, as half the class works with the flight simulators while the other fly’s drones just outside of the door in the hallway.

Coming to Fort Thomas from a county school, he finds the help of an organization like the Education Foundation to be an invaluable asset for teachers looking to take learning opportunities away from the traditional – and finds the application process to fund these ideas to be easy and teacher-friendly.

For McDowell, his next wish purports to take students even higher than the earth’s atmosphere as he’s not only eyeing a similar program with “Mars exploring” drones but a simulated Mars landscape for those buggies to maneuver within on the grounds outside of the high school. With help and grants from the Education Foundation, it seems the sky –and even the space beyond – is the limit for Fort Thomas teachers and students. 

Since 2001, the FTEF has granted $106,650 for STEM programs within the FTIS.