Pilot's Discretion from Sporty's
Oct 20, 2026 · 36 min · 12 segments
What happens when you take a former high school chemistry teacher, turn her into a CFI, and send her back into the high school classroom to run a full-semester private pilot ground school? In this…
You're now back in a classroom, but this is not just some Saturday two-hour class.
This is a really in-depth program, uh, that goes beyond the basic introduction.
So tell us about what you're doing and why you think it's important that it's more than just a basic introductory session.
So right now I am a, um, instructor at a career and technical education program called the Catalyst Center in Davis County in Utah.
And really what we're doing is it started with this idea of bringing private pilot ground school into high schools.
And so it kind of was this perfect culmination of my background in teaching and my passion for flight instructing, where I said, "Hey, I, I can do this.
I would love to teach this." And so it's really turned into this program where, yes, we offer ground school, and by the end students can get their FAA written test endorsement, but it is so much more than that.
How do we do that?" And really kind of demystifying that process to kind of getting your foot in the door into the aviation world.
Our Catalyst Center has flight simulators, so students can actually go in and look around the cockpit, learn the basic procedures, play with the GPS, um, and that is a great supplement to the ground instruction.
And then of course, it's, it's opportunities to build relationships with kids.
And so- It's really special to me when we have students that go through ground school with me.
I get to know their goals, and they end up, you know, start flight training with us at Cornerstone.
You know, we celebrate those achievements, and I think having that community aspect and someone that, you know, is rooting for you beyond just your one CFI, it's a really, really cool program.
You're now back in a classroom, but this is not just some Saturday two-hour class.
This is a really in-depth program, uh, that goes beyond the basic introduction.
So tell us about what you're doing and why you think it's important that it's more than just a basic introductory session.
So right now I am a, um, instructor at a career and technical education program called the Catalyst Center in Davis County in Utah.
And really what we're doing is it started with this idea of bringing private pilot ground school into high schools.
And so it kind of was this perfect culmination of my background in teaching and my passion for flight instructing, where I said, "Hey, I, I can do this.
I would love to teach this." And so it's really turned into this program where, yes, we offer ground school, and by the end students can get their FAA written test endorsement, but it is so much more than that.
How do we do that?" And really kind of demystifying that process to kind of getting your foot in the door into the aviation world.
Our Catalyst Center has flight simulators, so students can actually go in and look around the cockpit, learn the basic procedures, play with the GPS, um, and that is a great supplement to the ground instruction.
And then of course, it's, it's opportunities to build relationships with kids.
And so- It's really special to me when we have students that go through ground school with me.
I get to know their goals, and they end up, you know, start flight training with us at Cornerstone.
You know, we celebrate those achievements, and I think having that community aspect and someone that, you know, is rooting for you beyond just your one CFI, it's a really, really cool program.
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