The Aerospace Center for Excellence is helping celebrate the 10th annual national Girls in Aviation Day through fun activities and community partnerships.
The free event will take place on Saturday, September 21, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Florida Air Museum.
While Girls in Aviation Day is sponsored by Women in Aviation International, it is the Lakeland chapter’s third year hosting an event locally. Cathy Dal Colletto, digital marketing coordinator for the Aerospace Center for Excellence, said she loves the message of Girls in Aviation Day.
“In partnering with the Aerospace Center for Excellence on this, their mission is to engage, educate and accelerate the next generation of aviation or aerospace professionals,” she said.
Each year, the event has hands-on activities, such as scavenger hunts and engineering activities, for girls 10-17 years old. The girls will also have a chance to see the Skylab Innovation Center, which is a collaborative workspace and interactive classroom. The center also has flight simulators, a drone laboratory and its Science on a Sphere Laboratory.
Dal Colletto said the event will help connect girls to what the industry has to offer, other STEM career fields and the programs at the Aerospace Center for Excellence.
“We have programs at the Aerospace Center for Excellence that go from the car-seat age all the way up until the end of high school,” she said. “So, if they can at least kind of spark that interest, that’s where we want to lead them.”
Guests will also have the chance to enter into a drawing for a free discovery flight at this year’s Girls in Aviation Day.
In order to make the event free to aspiring aviators, the Aerospace Center for Excellence has partnered with local businesses. In addition to the support from Women in Aviation International, the Lakeland Linder International Airport has supported the annual event.
To register for Girls in Aviation Day or for more information about the Aerospace Center for Excellence, visit https://aceedu.org/. The Aerospace Center for Excellence is located on the Lakeland Linder International Airport at 4075 James C. Ray Dr. in Lakeland.
