Schools take flight - Marion County district expands aeronautics partnership
MARION, S.C. — The Marion County School District has “overhauled” its career and technical education programs in the last four years. The next step, according to Dr. Mark Bunch, assistant superintendent for administration, is the expansion of the aeronautics program.
The Marion County School District held a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the expansion of the aeronautics program for high schools in Marion and Dillon counties.
“As we were looking for new programs, we began to explore South Carolina jobs, and what kept coming back was the aviation programs, or the industry in South Carolina with Boeing being in Charleston, with industries locally around us that make products and parts for airplanes and those kinds of things,” he said.
The program is not only about giving students a chance to earn their pilot licenses, he said. It’s an opportunity for students to learn comprehensively about the aviation industry, from manufacturing and air traffic control to maintenance.
The Marion County School District's aeronautics program allows students to access state-of-the-art flight simulators.
The program is expanding through its partnership with Dillon School District 3 and 4, totaling five public high schools that will send students to this program.
“This is also a unique program, only one in the state, where multiple school districts are coming together to pool the resources to make this happen,” Bunch said. “In some of the large counties in the state, in the Upstate or in Horry County or Florence County, there’s enough students to make those programs work. Small counties like ours, there might not be quite enough students to ensure a program like this occurs.”
Bunch said it’s just as important for small, rural school districts like the ones in Marion and Dillon to have the opportunities a larger district has with career and technical education programs.
“This again gives an opportunity for a select group of students to really dive into an industry they may not have had a chance to otherwise, and this is going to be generational change. This is life-changing for them,” he said.
Bunch also said, “little small towns like Marion, Dillon and Latta have just as bright a student as the Horry County, Florence County or Greenville County. We can just provide those opportunities, and this is one of the steps to do that.”
All students will be involved in the same curriculum. This includes working with drones, flight simulators and more. Students in their final semester of their final year will work on a capstone project that will allow them to choose a focus.
“These are the real simulators that pilots would be on to work for their pilot's license,” Bunch said. “And the whole process behind this is the more time you spend on our real simulators, the less time you have to spend in the air, so it speeds the process of getting your pilot’s license, and that really cuts down the cost of getting your pilot’s license.”
The simulators will be located at the vocational school and are state-of-the-art. Bunch also said that pilots from around the Pee Dee can come to use their simulators and get recertified.
Students will begin this program in the fall. There are still opportunities for students to sign up from the Dillon school districts as well as Marion.
“I think this really is a template for how rural South Carolina schools can pull the resources of multiple school districts to really give students who have the desire to learn about these careers or experience these careers to really think differently,” Bunch said.
Florence County Public Library is offering library goers a place to go learn how to have a green thumb with seeds and advice on how to grow plants.
Florence County's budget includes no tax increase for the next fiscal year due to the healthy business and economic development environment.
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