OGDEN, Utah – The Utah Aerospace Pathways Program is expanding to one more school district.
Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox made the special announcement during this year’s Aerospace Day at Utah’s Capitol Hill.
“We are excited to continue to talk about the Aerospace Pathways Program,” Cox said.
The Utah Aerospace Pathways program is expanding to the Ogden School District. It’s already available for high school seniors in Granite, Davis and Iron County school districts.
“Aerospace is one of our fastest growing sectors of the economy,” Cox said. “And the great news is they bring really good paying jobs to the state of Utah, with great benefits.”
The students, like Annika Kiedaisch at Ben Lomond High School, spend parts of their days working with aerospace companies and eventually graduate with a certificate in aerospace manufacturing.
“I do a lot of repair right now is what I’m working on,” Kiedaisch said. “I just finished the employability skills, I'm just trying to get the prerequisite courses out of the way, so that I can participate in the internship.”
Once they graduate, students can choose whether they want to go to college or get a job right out of high school.
“I do think it is going to prepare me a lot, it gives me a lot of the hands-on skills that I know I’m going to be using within the manufacturing industry,” Kiedaisch said.
State leaders say Utah is taking the lead when it comes to aerospace technology.
“Some of the biggest airplane manufacturers in the country, Boeing for example is right here in the state of Utah,” Cox said. “They participate in this, where they make parts for these big jets we see flying over the country.”
Students can only sign up where the program is available, but there are other opportunities statewide.
“For students across the state, the Talent Ready Utah program—that they can find at talentreadyutah.com—is going to start providing opportunities like this, not just in aerospace, but in different industries across the state," Cox said.
