WAI WMU - GIAD

Girls in Aviation Day

What is Girls in Aviation Day?

Only about seven percent of professionals in the aviation industry are women. GIAD is an annual event launched by WAI to help inspire girls to pursue careers in the field of aviation. The WMU chapter has been holding an annual event for GIAD since 2021. Our event helps introduce middle-school and high-school girls in Southwest Michigan and the surrounding areas to the variety of career options available to them within the larger aviation industry

The Western Herald, WMU's campus newspaper, wrote an article about GIAD 2022! Read it here!

Interested in attending Girls in Aviation Day 2025? Save the date for September 27th, 2025. It will be held at WMU's College of Aviation! For more information and purchasing tickets click on this link!

Meet our 2025 Girls in Aviation Day Committee!

GIAD Committee Leader - Lexi Owens

Berfin Kayikcioglu

I'm from St Charles Illinois, majoring in Aviation Flight Science at Western Michigan University and currently working on my Instrument rating. I'm so excited to be a part of the GIAD committee this year and meet girls who share the passion for aviation!

Gabbi Slaud

I'm from Chicago, Illinois majoring in Aviation Technical Operations. This is my third year at Western! I'm excited to give girls the kind of aviation experience I wish I had growing up. It’s great to see them learning, having fun, and imagining a future in aviation.

Lily McNaughton

I’m from the east side of Michigan in a small town called Croswell, majoring in Flight Science, working on my private, and I’m excited to get to help set up an event for young girls to learn about aviation, since I wasn’t able to learn about it as a career until I was in high school.