When people think about a school the size of Atoka, they are usually surprised that we offer courses like aviation. We are so fortunate to be able to offer this and other courses that are usually reserved for larger school districts. Here at AHS, Mr. Swift has proudly been teaching Aviation for five years. However, starting out he barely had any experience in the Aviation field at all. There are still some challenges, though, such as the students occasionally not listening or just not paying attention. He will usually try to ask them to pay attention the first time. Sometimes he has to address the class as a whole, but he usually tries to avoid this. 

    When asked about the type of assignments students do for aviation, Mr. Swift stated, “I prefer to focus my grades on built items, such as building a chip or making a program of some sort. The things you build will stay in your memory far after you’ve forgotten the facts that you crammed.” Some common assignments in Aviation include flight planning on the sectional and learning your air spaces.

      Ella Tapley, the president of the Aviation Club, joined Mr. Swift’s Aviation class last December. She started out in Aviation III, but she originally began planning to be a pilot in July of 2022. Her time in Aviation has been challenging, but she’s still pushed through to fulfill her private pilot dreams. Her father led her to join Aviation. 

     She also stated, “My father went to SOSU to pursue Aviation, but ended up in business instead.”  In 2020 he started flying general aircraft again and brushing up on his training. Two years later, he asked if she would be his co-pilot so she could start lessons. She was very grateful for this offer and took him up on it. 

     Both Mr. Swift and Ella recommend this class. They agree that it is an amazing opportunity to learn more about flying, and Aerospace is the second-largest industry in Oklahoma. In this class, students can learn a lot of the same things that they would at Southeastern’s Aviation Center.