September 01, 2005

Three students win aviation scholarships

by Pete Rosenbery

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Three aviation management students at Southern Illinois University Carbondale are recipients of prestigious business aviation scholarships.

Benjamin A. Cole of Danville, a senior in aviation flight management; Matthew W. Collier of Raleigh, a senior in aviation management; and Heather L. Lemmon of Millstadt, a junior in aviation management, are three of five college students to receive the awards from the National Business Aviation Association.

Each student receives $1,000 from the Janice K. Barden Aviation Scholarship, which supports students seeking to advance their professional development in the business aviation industry.

This is the first time that SIUC’s aviation management and flight program has had three recipients in one year, said department chair David A. NewMyer. It is also rare that three students from one school will win scholarships in the same year, he said.

“To win three from a national organization is an outstanding recognition of the quality of our students,” he said. “It has to be more than luck – it’s the quality of the student.”

SIUC annually holds corporate aviation/general aviation career days. NewMyer recalled that Lemmon attended one while in the high school and won a jump seat ride aboard an American Airlines plane in 2002. More students are choosing jobs within the business aviation industry over traditional choices of wanting to work for airlines, he said.

Janice K. Barden founded Aviation Personnel International. The National Business Aviation Association serves more than 7,000 member companies promoting aviation interests of organizations utilizing business aircraft in the United States and worldwide. The organization annually awards five scholarships to undergraduate students studying aviation-related curriculum at NBAA and University Aviation Association member institutions.

Winning the scholarships “solidifies our presence in the corporate and business aviation field,” NewMyer said. “We are doing the career days, the students are winning the scholarships.”

Cole is the son of Lisa Colwell and Tim Cole (1204 N. Franklin) in Danville; Collier is the son of Connie and Donald Collier (1695 Raleigh Road) in Raleigh; and Lemmon is the daughter of Jackie and Steve Lemmon (8445 State Route 163) in Millstadt.

Providing high-quality, progressive undergraduate education is among the goals of Southern at 150: Building Excellence Through Commitment, the blueprint for the development of the University by the time it celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2019.