Attendance at the Wathen Aviation High School at Flabob Airport in Riverside, Calif., is expected to double this fall, rising from 60 students in the past year to 120 for opening day this fall.
So far, 84 students have already enrolled.
Part of the increase is due to the addition of middle school classes, school officials note.
This past spring, 12 students graduated from Wathen Aviation High School. It was the first graduation class that had students who had started out at the school as freshmen. The number of graduates this spring was equal to the number of students in all four classes when the school opened its doors four years ago.
The school operates with five full time teachers and a number of volunteers from the local aviation community who provide an aviation slant to many of the courses that are taught, including English and history.
“The students are benefitting from this aviation-rich environment,” said Dr. Arthur Peterson, president of the Wathen Foundation Aviation Academy, which is in charge of educational programming. “They see aircraft taking off and landing throughout the days when they are in classes and have learned a lot about the aviation-related businesses on the field. This has resulted in a commitment from quite a few of them to pursue careers in aviation. We hope to help that along this year by adding some more pre-engineering courses.”
For more information: 951-683-2309, ext. 104 or Flabob.org.
