When STEM Outreach Goes Full Circle
By: Federal Aviation Administration
Tags: Public Service, Black History Month, Aviation, STEM, Education

When STEM Outreach Goes Full Circle

upper left: Wayne Hubbard at the Worlds of Work event with his seventh grade son, David. Other photos at the top are from events he worked on with kids at the FAA Tech Center.

Imagine being 12 years old, on an airplane for the first time in your life, when you have the opportunity to try your hand flying the plane.

This isn’t something the FAA’s Wayne Hubbard, a National Air Traffic Management Officer, has to imagine — it was something he lived. And that moment stays with him today, greatly shaping his life and the hard work he puts in educating young people about aviation as an FAA STEM Aviation and Space Education (AVSED) outreach representative.

For Hubbard, his interest in aviation was pure curiosity. And, like many of the young people he encounters today, he didn’t know any pilots. Nobody in his family worked in aviation, either. Growing up in East Orange, New Jersey he got involved with a local nonprofit called the Eagle Flight Squadron, which offers flight instruction, emphasizes academics and career development, and encourages discipline with a military-like structure. It was through Eagle Flight Squadron that Hubbard took that memorable first flight along the Hudson River, from New Jersey towards Manhattan.

“I knew I wanted to be in aviation from that moment,” he said.

Today, Hubbard plays an active role giving students and young people that same inspiring exposure to aviation. He set a high bar with his first venture into aviation education in 2014, collaborating with the Eagle Flight Squadron and the National Black Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees (NBCFAE) for a weeklong Aviation Career Education (ACE) Academy. Since that first ACE Academy, Hubbard has partnered with both groups to put on several other camps.

“I remember how impactful ACE Academies were for me growing up, and it was fun to do the same types of things people did for me back when I was a teen,” he said.

The Worlds of Work event drew nearly 3,000 students and Hubbard was there to help them learn about aviation careers.

Last October, Hubbard continued making an impact, teaming up with the local aviation community in Winchester, Virginia, where he resides, for an event called Worlds of Work. The career day event reached nearly 3,000 local seventh grade students and gave them hands-on opportunities to learn about different careers, including aviation.

“We really had a cross section of folks at our booth; we had the local airport, the county fire department, the flight school, a United Airlines pilot and the FAA,” he said.

Hubbard worked to bring together a cross section of aviation

professionals for the Worlds of Work event, giving students a

view of the variety of aviation jobs available.

Hubbard believes there are great benefits to finding like-minded partners to help you spread your message, something he has seen firsthand building relationships and working closely with many allies, including the Winchester Regional Airport.

“It’s amazing that aviation can take you anywhere in the world and the access point is your airport, and that’s just down the street for many communities,” he said. “Many people don’t think of an airport as being a public place to come and learn and get involved, but it can be. I’ve worked with the Winchester Regional Airport to help bring the community into the airport and make it a more accessible place.”

While he has worked hard to build a strong network of aviation education stakeholders and partners, Hubbard recognizes that not everyone has the desire or bandwidth to do that. He offers some advice for colleagues who want to get young people excited about STEM AVSED.

“Start small,” he says with a laugh recalling his first aviation event, a week-long ACE Academy. “Start with a local school. Something as simple as giving a brief presentation to your kids’ class and showing them what it’s like to work in aviation will be impactful. People are really hungry for this information and feedback is always positive. It keeps me motivated. Then you can reach out to other stakeholders or aviation groups in your community and collaborate with them and see what comes out of that. You don’t have to recreate the wheel. Take what you are using already or doing already, show it in an educational way and answer questions,” said Hubbard.

He also thinks it may be easier than ever to get kids excited about aviation careers.

“Our industry is moving in incredible directions and we need people to work some of these jobs. Think about drones, think about commercial space. You really don’t have to sell it, you just have to show it,” he says.