Twenty-four students studying to become aircraft mechanics in Van Nuys, California, will receive scholarships in the first annual round of awards made under a new program established by a local aviation company.
Clay Lacy Aviation announced the awards totaling $10,200 to students enrolled in classes at the Aviation Center (AV-Center), a leading aircraft mechanics school located at the Van Nuys Airport. The school is run by the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Division of Adult and Career Education.
The fall scholarship recipients were selected “based on their higher education goals, academic achievements and community involvement,” Clay Lacy Aviation said in a news release.
“We are excited to help develop the next generation of aircraft mechanics and attract more high-skilled, high-paying jobs to Los Angeles,” said Clay Lacy Aviation President Brian Kirkdoffer. “Aircraft maintenance is one of the most important jobs in the aviation industry. This program is ranked among the top in the nation and enables graduates to land great jobs working on private, commercial and military aircraft.”
Clay Lacy Aviation, which has “a long history of hiring graduates,” announced the scholarship program in February during the groundbreaking ceremony for the company’s new six-acre development at the airport. In 2014, the company also donated a Learjet and a Gulfstream jet to the school.
Founded in 1973, the AV-Center “is the only public aviation mechanics school of its kind in California, and one of the few that is open to high school students and located at an airport,” the announcement said.
“Clay Lacy Aviation’s annual scholarship fund is another example of its generous contributions to aviation education spanning over four decades,” said Elizabeth Penuela, assistant principal of operations at the North Valley Service Area of Adult Schools in the district’s Division of Career Technical Education. “Clay Lacy Aviation has greatly benefited our program and students throughout the years.”
