WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. — A Midlands school principal on Tuesday stepped away from his usual everyday responsibilities to fly a plane over his Richland One school.
“Our world is ever changing, our students are changing from year to year. so for this to be something out of the ordinary to draw interest, for them to want to come to school and have things they want to talk about, I think it’s a great experience,” Watkins-Nance Elementary School Principal Reynard Jefferson said.
On Tuesday, Jefferson traded his administrative role for that of a student, participating in the Teacher Orientation Program (TOP) flight that is provided by Civil Air Patrol.
Working with the Civil Air Patrol, Jefferson claimed a seat in the cockpit to learn how to fly a plane and share what he learned with students.
Tim Coolidge, a volunteer pilot at Civil Air Patrol, was ready to teach Jefferson everything he needed to know about flying planes.
"They actually get an opportunity to fly the airplane so they see and practice the things that they're teaching the kids," Coolidge said. "So it's not just stick goes back trees get smaller, stick goes front trees get bigger kind of thing. They actually understand the aerodynamics and what it takes to fly an airplane."
Back at Watkins-Nance Elementary School, students like Trinity Rodriguez Spry couldn’t wait to see their principal make school history as he flew a plane over the school.
“I love principal Jefferson. He’s been there for us as soon as we got into the school. He’s a nice and very fun principal and to see him fly over us in a plane, that’ll be pretty awesome to see that,” she said.
School officials hope the event will encourage students to sign up for Richland One’s BLAST magnet programs.
Stephanie Long is a science, technology, art and math—or STEAM— consultant.
“This type of program gives them a different way of learning. It helps them engage more and have a more hands on learning, which will increase their test scores and increase their want to be in these types of STEAM careers in the future,” she said.
Students can sign up for the magnet choice programs in the next coming weeks. Applications for the upcoming school year will open on December 11th.