Northwest Aerospace News August | September Issue No. 10 | Page 61

PACIFIC NORTHWEST AEROSPACE ALLIANCE SPOTLIGHT
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arry Sowa, a long-standing PNAA member, is a huge champion
of the scholarship program and dedicates countless hours each year
to sustaining it. He recognizes how scholarships provide a feeling
of success and accomplishment to students, commenting, “Not only
do they provide much needed financial assistance, they also recog-
nize the students for their dedication to achieving their academic
and career goals, which is a huge boost for them. It also encourages
them to think about their future by linking an aerospace business
(sponsor) to their scholarship and career.”
PNAA’s Scholarship Program
Recognizing that the PNAA community could have an important
impact on the life of a student pursuing an aerospace career – and ul-
timately the workforce our manufacturers depend on to produce and
deliver their products and services – PNAA launched a scholarship
program in 2009 to support students in their careers in aerospace
design, maintenance and engineering. In the first year 5,000 dollars
were raised, but PNAA has continued to be committed to a lofty
goal of raising 50,000 dollars each year. While this number is still
to be achieved, the community has raised over 240,000 dollars and
impacted the lives of over 140 students to date.
PNAA’s Scholarship Program serves schools in Washington,
Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia, with a range of community
colleges and universities benefiting. Participating schools select el-
igible students based on financial need, career goals, GPA achieve-
ment and U.S. citizenship. Students must be pursuing a career in
aerospace, and typically study academic and hands-on programs,
including aviation maintenance, composites, electronics technician
and computer-aided drafting and design. Scholarship donors are
given the opportunity to select from participating schools and ear-
mark their scholarship to a particular career track if they wish.
To bolster the Scholarship Program, in 2009 the Karl Fagan Memo-
rial Scholarship was established to honor the life of a late PNAA
board member. Each year PNAA donates 2,500 dollars to the fund
and most years the contributions have been more than doubled
through the donations of generous board members.
Taking the program to the next level, PNAA has now launched a
Workforce and Scholarship Committee, championed by Torsten
Welte, global vice president and head of aerospace and defense for
SAP. The committee is supported by other board members and vol-
unteer PNAA members. The first milestone the committee is pursu-
ing is to reach the ever-elusive 50,000 dollars. Torsten comments,
“It’s great to have the additional structure and momentum to propel
this forward. We are extremely grateful to Larry and members of
the PNAA team that have gotten us this far; with the additional sup-
port in place I see no reason why 50,000 dollars would be out of our
reach — but more importantly, think about all of the extra students
we could support because of this.”
Torsten Welte and Larry Sowa thank
LMI Aerospace at the awards dinner
PNAA’s Scholarship Program
$1k+ BRONZE LEVEL: Can help students pay for
books, supplies, tuition and other college expenses
$2.5k+ SILVER LEVEL: Can provide half a year of
tuition for a community college student
$5k+ GOLD LEVEL: Can train a student to be an
Aerospace Composite Technician
$10k+ PLATINUM LEVEL: Can provide eight
university students with one quarter of tuition
$25k+ DIAMOND LEVEL: Can provide seven
community college students with one year of tuition
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