CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Students across the state will soon get a chance to aim for the skies.
Marshall University and the West Virginia Department of Education announced a partnership Thursday afternoon at the Bill Noe Flight School in Charleston. The partnership, called the AIRWV (Aviation Innovation and Readiness West Virginia) Pathway, will give students from Grades K-12 introductions into the aviation industry. The partnership is for five years, with the idea of continuing it further into the future.
Five pilot counties are already on board with the pathway: Barbour, Clay, Jackson, Kanawha, and Logan. The WVDE said those counties will roll out the program in Fall 2026.
State Superintendent of Schools Michele Blatt attended the announcement and said she’s excited for the future.
“It’s going to be a career pathway for our students, with experiences starting in kindergarten, all the way through college, with Marshall’s Aviation School, and working with Higher Ed to make sure that our students are prepared to really take on a lot of the needs that we have right here in West Virginia,” Blatt said.
Marshall University President Brad Smith said it’s an exciting new program to help the next generation.
“(It’s) an opportunity to expose our K-through 12-students to the opportunities that await them in aviation,” Smith said. “Whether it’s being a pilot, an aviation maintenance technician, an aerospace engineer, an airport operations leader, all these careers are waiting for them, and we want to get them excited about things with wings.”
Blatt said the Department of Education found there was a great need in the aviation industry for more workers. She said West Virginia’s education system could play a role in addressing that need.
“We really wanted to be sure that we could provide those skills to our students so that they could be the ones filling those jobs that are needed,” Blatt said. “Pilots, mechanics, airline controllers, all of those things.”
The Department of Education reported some striking national shortfall numbers in the aviation industry, citing a shortage of 17,000 technicians and mechanics in North America. The shortfall is projected to reach 30,000 in two years.
The demand for aviation workers is there, Smith said, both nationally and in West Virginia.
“There are a half a million job opportunities on a national basis,” Smith explained. “There are tens of thousands of job opportunities in this state. These jobs are high paying, in-demand jobs. It creates careers that last a lifetime. There’s nothing better than to have our students know they can get a career here, and they don’t have to leave our state.”
Smith added West Virginia has a rich history with aviation.
“It’s also our heritage in West Virginia,” Smith said. “We forget, the first plane (that) Orville and Wilbur Wright built was out of West Virginia spruce. We did give birth to Chuck Yeager. We are the ones that have actually had the Tuskegee Airmen train here, so we have aviation in our blood.”
While five pilot schools are on board, both Blatt and Smith said the expectation is for AIRWV to eventually reach all 55 counties.
“I think 10 years down the road, I hope that not only could we fill all of the jobs that West Virginia needs, but that our students would be able to go anywhere and secure those jobs with various airlines and in various places,” Blatt said.
“Our goal is ultimately to prove that it works in these five schools, to work with the Department of Education, and take it to the other schools that are interested and ultimately see the entire state vibrant with aviation opportunities,” Smith said.
Smith said the goal is for AIRWV to have a Flywheel Effect, building momentum over time and opening many pathways to success for students.
“It’ll create opportunities for generations to come,” Smith said. “It’s already attracting businesses who want come here with good-paying jobs. Those good-paying jobs will then have the next generation say, ‘I want to go work there,’ so now our population starts to grow again, and it creates this flywheel where everyone benefits.”
This program can reach students with dreams of flying high in the skies, he said. The buzz generated by the AIRWV Pathway falls right in line with two popular Tom Cruise movies.
“Ultimately, it gets these kids excited about being Top Gun, being Maverick, being Iceman,” Smith said.