Army Aviation Adventure Comes to High School
Thanks to the Career Center at the High School, students got to fly a drone, an Apache helicopter into a combat scenario and be a truck commander and lead a convoy. The school received a visit from the Army’s Aviation Adventure Semi with its high-tech simulators, which put the students to the test in some interactive exhibits to see what their pilots go through.
“This is the aviation exhibit we have, which is part of our entire mobile exhibit company out of Fort Knox, Kentucky,” says Sergeant First Class Hamilton. “We travel around 300 days a year doing exhibits at high schools, ROTC events, colleges, medical schools, all the way to larger air shows. We also do events with the National Football League, the Salute to Service, Selfies with a Soldier. It’s part of the new Army recruitment initiative – Decide to Lead.”
It’s a leadership scenario where the students get to experience a four minute mission. Throughout that mission they have to make decisions and the simulators gauges their decision-making process and what kind of leadership qualities they possess and their strength and weaknesses. “It’s all virtual reality too, so they can really experience what that really feels like,” explains SFC Hamilton. “We also have mannequins with their outfits so that people can see what you they would have on. The kids really like it, it is one of the most requested exhibits in our fleet. We have 18 exhibits across the nation, so we keep really busy.”
Career Mentor Lori Graves says the students really enjoyed the exhibit. “The US Army presented NTHS students with a wonderful opportunity to explore their Aviation Semi-Truck. They were able to get hands-on experience using their highly skilled equipment. We have a significant amount of students that are interested in joining the military services after graduating high school thanks to experiences like these.”