MVHS senior to attend Vaughn College for aviation

Nathaniel Edwards, a senior at Mount Vernon High School, was recently accepted into Vaughn College of Aeronautic Engineering, Aviation and Technology, where he will pursue a degree in the Aircraft Operations program.  

Nathaniel will start in the fall, and he has received a $1,000 scholarship from Destination College, a college readiness program for student athletes. He also played for the Mount Vernon Knights basketball team and works as a lifeguard at the MVHS pool.  

“There’s so many different things about this course, especially bonding with the students and teachers because it’s a small class, so we get along pretty well,” said Nathaniel. “Creating and building different things really makes it a fun course. It also showed me all the different ways that you can be in aviation without being a pilot. Just doing the different projects, we learned about how you can not only be a pilot, but you can also be a drone pilot, a mechanic or do aircraft maintenance.”  

Nathaniel has always been interested in aviation, so when MVHS introduced the aviation program at the beginning of the year, he took the opportunity to join. His experience solidified his love for aviation, which began after his first flights as a child and continued throughout his life.  

After the class was introduced, Nathaniel’s English teacher, David Israel, encouraged him to join the class after learning about his dream to become a commercial pilot. As one of three seniors in the class, he took a leadership role while working on projects with other students in the class. 

“We have three seniors in the class, and we always make sure we put a senior in one of the groups so they can help manage each project table,” said L. Gracie Dupree, who teaches the class alongside Mr. Israel. “He has been super helpful, and we were really excited when we found out he got into Vaughn.” 

Since he is a senior, Nathaniel could not complete all the courses in MVHS’s aviation program, but the course helped him make the decision to fully pursue piloting. He had played games involving flying planes and had always been interested in it, and now he can pursue his goal of being a pilot at Vaughn College. 

“This aviation course has meant a lot to me because it changed my perspective on all the different aspects of where aviation could take me,” said Nathaniel. “It showed me all the different pathways to get into aviation, and it really opened my eyes and certified my love of aviation. So now I really know I want to be in this field of study.”