Current Recipient

Brittany Smith

Brittany’s essays:

Essay #1: Describe your present goals, your goals five years from now, your ultimate goal. How do you anticipate achieving each of them?

A goal without a plan is just a wish.” Larry Elder stated this quote, and I can not agree more. While working to achieve a goal, one must create a plan to follow. Different goals require different plans. A goal now will have a different plan from a goal in five years, or an ultimate goal.

My major present goal is to be an honor graduate from my high school. 1 am a senior and very involved in my school. While working towards this goal I am serving as president of Drama Club, secretary of the Senior Senate, a member of the National Honor Society, Spanish National Honor Society, Forensics Team, and the Varsity Basketball Team. I plan on achieving this goal by continuing to work hard while balancing school work with extra-curricular activities.

Five years from now, I see myself graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and having different job opportunities available in my career field of choice. I also plan on becoming a flight instructor and acquiring my instrument rating and my multi-engine certificates. I plan to accomplish these goals by studying, working hard, and flying almost every day.

My ultimate goal in life is to become a professional pilot for a commercial airline or a private corporation. To accomplish this goal, I will continue to fly and gain both multi-engine and instrument hours. I hope to be offered internships from various corporations that will help me gain experience.

All of my goals can be accomplished if I focus and work hard. My ultimate goal relies on my achieving both my present goal and my five year goal. With these plans, I will be able to make my wish of becoming a pilot a reality.

Essay #2: Where did your desire to fly originate? Are there any individuals, events, or life experiences that have led you in this direction?

Let’s go back to before all the terrorist attacks, when viewing the cockpit of an airplane was something every first-time flyer enjoyed. I was about five years old when I received my first time-flyer wings from an American Airlines attendant. She took my hand and walked me to the front of the plane. I got to get my first look inside the cockpit. There were more buttons, levers, lights, and gadgets than I had ever seen. As the captain showed me the gadgets, I fell in love. I ran back to my seat and turned to my dad and said, “Dad that’s what I want to be when I grow up.” It was a dream during my childhood, but now it has become my goal.

As a child I would tell my doctor I was going to become a pilot and I have never said anything different. He would always encourage me to follow my dreams. As I go through my senior year, I get asked where I am going to attend school in the fall. I am excited to say Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to study aeronautical science and become a professional pilot.

Essay #3: Why do you want to become a private pilot? How important is it to you to learn to fly?

It was once said by Len Morgan, “The way I see it, you can either work for a living or you can fly airplanes. Me, I’d rather fly.” This quote says it all. Growing up I wanted to become a professional pilot more than anything. The only way to become a professional pilot is to start at the beginning and work up, and the beginning is becoming a private pilot.

Becoming a professional pilot will be what my life revolves around when I attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the fall. I will advance my skills after receiving my private certificate. Entering as a freshman with my private certificate will allow me to advance directly into my instrument and multi-engine rating certificates. This will allow me to accomplish my goal of becoming a professional pilot more quickly.

Another reason I want to fly is to see the world in a different view. Every one sees the world while being on the ground, but only a select few gets to see the world while looking out the cockpit. Amelia Earhart could not have put it any better than the way she did in her quote: “You haven’t seen a tree until you’ve seen its shadow from the sky.”

Brittany Smith obtained her private pilot’s license in August 2008, and is currently attending Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.