Avionics News April 2016 - 67

CFAA has four tracks in place for the students
to choose: the pilot track, the avionics track,
the engineering track and the A&P track.

A dream fulfilled
Being involved in the day-to-day operations of an active avionics shop, Garcia - like most of us - has a front-row seat to the overwhelming need to attract a new generation of pilots and technicians
into the aviation industry.
But unlike most of us, instead of lamenting the problem, he
decided to do something about it.
"After moving Gulf Coast Avionics to
Lakeland in 1999, one of my personal
goals was to get behind the creation of an
aviation high school that mirrored George
T. Baker," Garcia said. "That school certainly gave me the focus and career direction at a young age that I never would
have had without it. I think today's young
people need the same type of opportunity."
In 2007, Garcia and other forwardthinking business leaders approached the
administrators of the Polk County Public
Schools with his idea for creating an
aviation-oriented high school.
"I was already on the board with the Sun
'n Fun Fly-In, and my plan was to include
the new high school as part of the Sun 'n
Fun campus at Lakeland Linder Regional
Airport," he said. "Actually, the school
board was very receptive to the idea."
So with the blessings of the school board, the Central Florida
Aerospace Academy was born. One of the few challenges the
group faced was the decision as to which local high school the new
aviation academy would be linked.
"By making it an academy, you can attach it to a high school that
is already operating in the area," explained Keith Smith, assistant
principal at Central Florida Aerospace Academy. "It gives you
an established base and shortens the startup cycle. Several area
schools were interested, but it ended up being attached to Kathleen
High School in Polk County."

Smith said the only remaining hurdle was to get the school
board's approval to locate the CFAA campus at the airport.
"No other academy had ever been separated from its host
school before, but Rick was insistent the school be at the airport
to get the kids immersed in aviation," he said. "He wanted them
to feel like they were part of aviation and not just going to school
near an airport."
After about a year of planning and
completing a list of details, everything
was finalized and the first 40 students
started classes at the new Central Florida
Aerospace Academy in 2008.
"Our first aviation program obviously
was avionics, and then we added aerospace, engineering and most recently, an
airframe and powerplant program," Smith
said. "For the first couple of years, we
had classes in a couple of portables and a
hangar that Sun 'n Fun allowed us to use."
Like most successful programs, it
didn't take long before the number of students wanting to attend the new aviation
academy outstripped the school's space.
But as luck would have it, Garcia knew
someone who could possibly help.
"I contacted Mr. James C. Ray and
invited him to tour the CFAA campus
and preview our plans for the expansion of the school," Garcia
said. "Afterward, he agreed to donate nearly $7.5 million for
the construction of a new building that could eventually hold
550 students."
Current enrollment at CFAA is 325 students. That new building
opened in 2011, just three years after the academy welcomed its
first students.
"Mr. Ray is still very involved with the academy," Smith said.
Continued on following page
avionics news

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april

2016

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News April 2016

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Avionics News April 2016 - Intro
Avionics News April 2016 - Cover1
Avionics News April 2016 - Cover2
Avionics News April 2016 - No label
Avionics News April 2016 - 2
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Avionics News April 2016 - Cover3
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