Bentonville high school students interested in aviation can continue to explore the occupation at the city’s Municipal Airport.
The City Council voted 8-0 on Jan. 14 to authorize executing a 10-year lease agreement allowing the School District to use space at the airport for its Ignite Aviation — Air Mobility program.
Mark Slaughter, airport manager, wrote in a form in the meeting packet the monthly rate for the lease is $806.05, or 35 cents per square foot for 2,303 square feet.
The aviation program enables students to work with drones, simulators and planes to gain practical, hands-on experience with the technology and an understanding of career possibilities and potential of aviation, according to Slaughter.
Will Gunselman, program instructor, said the new lease agreement will allow the School District to renovate its existing accommodations at the airport — located at 2500 S.W. Aviation St. — to create more space for students. The revamped classroom will have what Gunselman called “swim lanes” in which different students will work on different things in a manner he likened to an assembly line.
“I would say that the goal is just to build an appropriate build space for airplane manufacturing,” said Jessica Imel, director of the district’s Ignite Professional Studies program.
Imel said the district has leased space at the airport at no cost through Summit Aviation — the airport’s fixed base operator — since it started the aviation program in fall 2022.
The City Council unanimously authorized the city to enter into an amended agreement with Summit Nov. 12 in which Summit released its interest in the property the School District has been using, according to the minutes from that meeting.
Leslee Wright, the district’s director of communications, said a lease agreement between the district and the city is still in the works. The renovation project will start in March with an expected price tag of $129,677. The district will pay the bulk of the costs with a Walton Family Foundation grant.
“The district is fortunate to have community partners across Northwest Arkansas support the Ignite Professional Studies program,” she said. “We’re grateful for them all, including the city of Bentonville.”
POSSIBLE PATHS
Imel said aviation is one of 10 career strands in the Ignite program, which provides profession-based learning to 11th and 12th grade students in the district.
Students in the program spend half their day immersed in their chosen strand working on community-facing projects, taking concurrent college courses, pursuing industry-recognized certifications and participating in internships and learning projects, Imel said. This is meant to help these students make a more informed decision about what they want to do in the next phase of their lives while imparting technical skills, along with professional skills like communication, teamwork and decision making.
“We often say we’re helping students fast-forward into that career, working on real projects with real industry tools, with industry partners, so that they can get out there and assess if this is a good fit for them,” she said.
Gunselman said the aviation program helps students achieve their goals in aviation, including helping them attain scholarships and pairing them with mentors.
The program’s curriculum comes from Tango Flight Inc., a Texas-based educational nonprofit, Gunselman said. Students learn about aerodynamics and electrical and hydraulic systems and use that knowledge to build a kit aircraft, which Imel said gives them six hours of college credit in an academic year.
Students are building a Van’s RV-12 — a two-seat, light sport airplane — the district purchased from Tango Flight, according to Imel. She said the Federal Aviation Administration will come out and certify the plane after the students put it together. The students will then be able to fly the plane, which the district plans to sell to get money to buy a new kit aircraft.
Gunselman said the district hopes the RV-12 will be finished by Christmas 2026. He estimated the aviation program will also incorporate about 60-70 guest speakers throughout the year, as well as field trips to places such as other airports and maintenance facilities.
TAKING FLIGHT
Imel said the aviation program has 40 students between Bentonville and Bentonville West high schools and Gateway, the district’s alternative learning environment. About 25 students have come out of the program so far.
Samantha Rengstorf, a Bentonville High School senior, said she enjoys being out on the airfield and getting to talk to people who help run the Bentonville Municipal Airport. She was motivated to apply for the program to make connections and better understand the field of aviation.
“I’ve learned a lot more about the aviation industry, and I’ve learned more about myself as well because I’ve discovered maybe instead of being a commercial pilot, I could be a corporate pilot,” she said. “I also want to study aviation management I’ve learned, so I want to be someone who maybe one day runs my own airport or aids people in running an airport.”
William Bollinger, another Bentonville High School senior, said he knew he wanted to work in aviation after flying in a small Cessna 172 plane when he was younger. He wants to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy and made many connections with military officers through the program.
Sutton Daniel, a junior at Bentonville High School, said he enjoys working on the RV-12 and getting flight experience through the on-site simulators. He really likes engineering and applied for the program to learn about opportunities in aviation.
“I’m still a junior, and so I’ll still have next year to do everything, but I feel like there’s still a lot of opportunities that can come my way,” he said. “But I mean, it’s opened up a bunch of doors for me this year.”
Sydney Seymour, a senior at Bentonville High, said while she’s always been invested in aviation, she didn’t know what path was right for her and what options were available before joining the program. She remarked she has made some “amazing connections” and found where she wants to go in her future through the program, which she doesn’t think she would’ve been able to do otherwise.
Ignite strands
The Ignite Professional Studies Program at the Bentonville School District includes the following career strands:
Aviation — Air Mobility
Construction Management
Culinary Arts
Digital Media
Education Innovation
Engineering — Industrial Design
Global Business
Health Sciences
Law — Public Policy
Technology
The original article from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette can be found here.
