The aviation club is a group of students who have an interest in or want to learn more about the aviation field. Every month the club has a new guest who speaks to interested students. These guest speakers help high school students become better informed about other careers in this field. So far, the club has had three guest speakers.

The aviation club’s first speaker was Marilina Angarone. Angarone learned about airplanes at a young age. She worked as an aircraft mechanic when she got out of college. Angarone spoke about how she got her start and touched a lot of bases when it came to the mechanics side of aviation. After working for 18 years as a mechanic, she left the mechanical side of aviation and became the Director of Aviation Services at Lewis University.

The second guest speaker was Mike Holland, a Crown Point High School alumni. While he was at CPHS, he started the aviation club. Holland helped the club leader find guest speakers and orchestrated field trips to different aviation related areas. Holland is currently a pilot and has been very invested in learning how to fly and create drones.

The third guest speaker was Cassondra Otterbacher, a pilot who attended Purdue University. She graduated from Valparaiso High School in 2021. Otterbacher showcased Purdue as a very hands-on and engaging school. She gave information about how going to Purdue can get you flying experience you need right away. Currently, Otterbacher is an instructor at Porter County. She is trying to get all of her hours before she tries to apply to Atlas Airlines.

Thus far, they have had a mechanic and two pilots. The guest speaker for the month of March is Megan Zahos. Zahos is a Principal Operations Inspector with the Federal Aviation Administration at the Greater Chicago Flight Standards District Office. In her role, she has program responsibility to assure that assigned organizations meet Title 14 Code of Federal Regulation (14 CFR) with respect to general aviation operations programs.