Final 2021 Scholarships Closing Sunday
Several PAMEA AME Bursaries, the Helijet Rotary IFR/AME Award and the new PetroValue Mid-Career Training Scholarship are still available due to low number of applications.
We are unclear why, but we are having a heck of a time finding applicants for our non-pilot scholarships! So this is last call for 2021.
It is not just about the money, although these scholarships range from $1000 - $3500. Being a scholarship recipient helps put your resume to the top of the pile.
The Pacific Aircraft Maintenance Engineer Association (PAMEA) has recently added their $42,000 scholarship fund to the BCAC's professionally managed scholarship endowment. This supports two $1000 awards for prospective AME candidates that recently graduated or are currently enrolled and have completed at least 75% of their training in an accredited AME training school in British Columbia.
Helijet's $3500 scholarship supports a student working toward their rotary AME or IFR designation. Our sincere thanks to Danny Sitnam and his Team at Helijet. In 2022, this award is increasing to $5000, despite Covid-19, probably making this the most prestigious rotary scholarship award in Canada.
One of our new scholarships is the $2500 PetroValue Airport Management and Technical Training award. This year it supports mid-career training for someone currently employed at or on an airport in a management or operational role. They need to be supported by their employer for additional training in management, technical or safety field, and show acceptance into a recognized training or technical course. Preference will be given to applicants from smaller airports with fuelling operations. This is an extremely progressive award as it recognizes the critical role aviation suppliers play at airports.
The BC Aviation Council endowment now exceeds $450,000 - making it the largest aviation and aerospace scholarship endowment in Canada. Our goal is to increase the fund to over $1 million a year by 2025.
A reminder that the BCAC is a registered tax charity. All donations receive an official Canadian tax receipt.
Hangar Hangout #9 (Virtual)
Thursday, September 23th, 2021
1900-2030 Pacific
Welcome to Hangar Hangout, a monthly aviation and aerospace initiative by the BCAC's amazing Youth Engagement Committee!
Join us for our ninth casual online get together. Here you’ll have an opportunity to connect and converse with fellow aviation enthusiasts and professionals in the BC aviation and aerospace community. Moving forward, once Covid cooperates, we will be alternating the Hangar Hangouts between online and in-person gatherings.
During this event, we’ll break down into smaller rooms and engage in discussions about anything and everything aviation and aerospace-related. BCAC's intention is to create an inclusive, friendly, and inviting environment for everyone to meet new people, socialize, and connect in the “hangar” setting we’ve all been missing.
This event is free and open to all. Donations to BCAC's growing Scholarship Fund are graciously accepted. Despite COVID-19, the aviation and aerospace community has rallied behind the scholarship program.
We look forward to seeing you there! Register Here
MAYDAY! VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: The Sky's No Limit - Girls Fly Too!
2021 Aviation, Aerospace, Marine and Defence Diversity Outreach Event
I hope you’re keeping well! Can you could help us recruit BCAC members, and any other aviation professionals in your network, to volunteer with our event? Of course “civilian” volunteers are welcome too!
We operate 10 helicopters of various types hot reloading hundreds of female first time fliers – FREE – over the weekend at the Abbotsford International Airport (CYXX) October 2-3. This is a great opportunity to help a good cause, make new connections and learn some great skills. We’re happy to write a letter attesting to volunteer hours, upon request.
We’re critically short on volunteers for our event, especially for the ground crews required to safely support our 10 volunteer helicopters providing free flights for female first-time fliers. We need 4-5 people per helicopter at all times they are operating – from about 0800 – 1800 Sat/Sun. People are invited to apply on our website for as many shifts as they are available for. Right now we only have enough volunteers to crew 5-6 helicopters continuously so we’re declaring a Mayday. Training is provided and we also need help with other areas of the event as well. No airside security pass is required.
I hope you can help us get the word out to anyone in your network that might be interested in helping out! The attached and below is a generic invitation and information about our event, and any interested volunteers should apply asap here: www.girlsfly2.ca/volunteer.html There is more information in the volunteer form about the various positions and shifts available – a person just needs to start the application process and the options will open up as they make selections.
Kirsten Brazier
President, Achieve Anything Foundation
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Invitation: The Sky’s No Limit – Girls Fly Too! 2021
World’s largest Aviation, Aerospace, Marine and Defence
diversity outreach event
Abbotsford International Airport, Abbotsford BC – Oct. 2-3
I hope you’re keeping well as we move past the complex challenges of a worldwide pandemic and trend toward global reopening. This is a general invitation I hope you can share far and wide! We need many more volunteers and hope you can help us recruit through some of your channels.
We’re officially a go for a full event on October 2-3. We’ll continue vigilantly monitoring the situation in the coming weeks and adjust our plans as needed to ensure a safe and successful event. Given the ongoing pandemic and for the health and safety of all concerned, we’ve also implemented a “fully vaccinated” policy for all participants at our event this year. Participants age 12 and up will be required to show proof of being fully vaccinated in order to gain entry to our event this year (press release attached).
We invite you to join us for the world’s largest diversity outreach event to inspire female future leaders in Aviation, Aerospace, Marine and Defence, as well as other STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) based fields. Without your support, we wouldn’t be able to host this incredibly important diversity outreach event and keep it free for all participants to prevent barriers to participation.
All invited agencies and partners are encouraged to bring any personnel, vessels, vehicles, hands-on equipment and displays that can help showcase the various aspects of their activities to event participants widely diverse in age, gender and culture. The gauntlet has been dropped for each agency partner to “out-cool” the others! While female role models are important, we don’t seek “all-female” crews, rather any friendly, outgoing personnel that love their profession and are open to a fun, team-based approach toward improving gender and cultural diversity. We want participants to see and feel that diversity is welcomed and encouraged by all members, not just by a particular demographic.
At our last event in 2019, the Canadian and U.S. Military, RCMP, Canadian Coast Guard, and many other agency/industry partners joined forces with well over a billion dollars in aircraft and tactical assets to inspire over 22,000 people from Canada, the U.S. and beyond over the two-day event. We’re thrilled that 1,496 girls and women of all ages had the opportunity to experience the magic of first flight, free, thanks to the generous support of agency, industry and education partners. The 2019 Summary Report and photos may be found here:www.girlsfly2.ca/past_events.html
We’ve all been hit hard by the pandemic – it’s going to take a team effort to pull ourselves out of the ashes and return to “normal”. But I’d like to remind you that in our previous “normal” women were already appallingly underrepresented in all our target, high-tech STEM-based fields. Numerous reports indicate that women worldwide have been hit hardest by the pandemic and without significant intervention, many will not recover. By taking action now to engage, support and improve the participation of women in high-tech fields, and our economy will prosper in the long term as a result.
Our hands-on outreach approach has proven very successful in awakening women and girls to the many possibilities open to them in high-tech STEM fields. Continuous engagement, financial support and collaborative action is needed by agencies and industry to carry on this momentum and effect long-term change. With time and the data we collect, we look forward to documenting a correlation of our team effort and collective hands-on approach, to an overall improvement of diversity in high-tech STEM fields. Your support is needed more than ever to help us achieve this goal.
Best Regards,
Kirsten Brazier
D. Tech. (honoris causa)
President
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