A paper plane event hosted by the American Association of Airport Executives, or AAAE, was held outside of the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center on Wednesday to help raise money for the group.

Kent State’s AAAE chapter covers issues such as legislative affairs, airport finance and safety operations.

Isaac Richmond Nettey, AAAE adviser, said students in the group work with and are mentored by professionals in their desired field.

“Students in AAAE get to experience a slice of what professional aviation involves,” Nettey said. “They get exposure to what employment requirements are, what salaries they will earn and will receive internships and conference opportunities.”

Senior aeronautics major Joshua Moyer, AAAE’s president, said the group is different from other aeronautics groups on campus.

“The other aeronautics groups on campus are also nationally affiliated,” Moyer said. “What makes us different is we give broad exposure on certain issues and try to appeal to everyone in the group’s concerns.”

Moyer said the group recently went to Chicago, where they were able to experience what it is like to be a professional airport executive.

“We went to one of Nick Popovich’s [from the Discovery Channel’s “Airline Repo”] hangars in Gary, Indiana,” Moyer said. “In addition, we visited the United Airlines Network Operations Center, which is the single hub where they operate the airline around the globe in a single tower. It was our first big trip.”

Moyer said in addition to going on trips, the group features many guest speakers throughout the year.

“We’ve featured guest speakers from Akron, Canton, Pittsburgh and Dayton,” Moyer said. “These are people that are at the airlines where we want to build a relationship with, and a lot of those airlines hire our graduates.”

Nettey said one way the group has been able to keep people interested in the group has been the group reaching out to incoming freshmen early in the semester.

“At the beginning of every semester, we have the officers of AAAE visit the Introduction to Aeronautics classes, which hold a large number of freshmen,” Nettey said. “They talk about all of the benefits students can derive from AAAE and the activities they will engage in.”

Moyer said he hopes AAAE will continue to have an impact on the School of Aeronautics and give students experience.

“The connections I’ve been able to make at AAAE conferences is really invaluable,” Moyer said. “I hope our club and the changes made within the school will boost enrollment in aeronautics students, which will enable us to have a larger group and do more things in the future.”



Contact Elizabeth Randolph
 at [email protected].