AOPA donates $17,500 to the AOPA Career Pathways Scholarship at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

AOPA President Phil Boyer (right) with ERAU President Dr. George Ebbs.

AOPA last night presented Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with a check for $17,500 for the AOPA Career Pathways Scholarship fund.

AOPA President Phil Boyer made the presentation during a Pilot Town Meeting in Daytona Beach, Florida, home of one of the university's two residential campuses. Dr. George Ebbs, president of Embry-Riddle, accepted on behalf of the university. Some 550 ERAU students and local aviators attended last night's Pilot Town Meeting.

AOPA established the AOPA Career Pathways Scholarship in 1997 and to date has given some $70,000 to the fund. The university applies the contributions to an endowed scholarship to help aviation students.

The fund is part of a landmark alliance between the world's largest aviation organization and the leading aviation university in the United States. With two residential campuses in Prescott, Arizona, as well as Daytona Beach, and more than 100 teaching facilities across the country, Embry-Riddle has the largest aeronautical science degree program in the United States.

AOPA contributes 10 percent of the AOPA membership dues of every Embry-Riddle alumni to its scholarship for ERAU's up-and-coming pilots. Some 3,000 Embry-Riddle graduates, most pursuing professional flying careers, hold AOPA membership.

In addition, another 3,000 current Embry-Riddle students and faculty are AOPA members.

AOPA membership provides ERAU students with real-world resources that complement their academic training and pursuit of aviation careers. The program helps students keep abreast of technical, regulatory, and safety issues affecting their training and career choices.

AOPA also conducts on-campus programs, including Air Safety Foundation safety seminars. ERAU students are offered special learning opportunities and internships at AOPA and at the Air Safety Foundation in Frederick, Maryland.

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