Hickam hosts Education Day

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Chris Vadnais
  • Air Force News Agency
HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii (AFPN) --  With Air Force Week in full swing, Airmen on the island of Oahu are focused on its theme: Heritage to Horizons.

The service's 'heritage' was celebrated through a Pacific Air Forces art exhibit and the Tops in Blue performance, among other events, and the 'horizons' element focused on young adults, with an Air Force Education Day.

About a thousand high school students from all over the island left their classrooms for Hickam's flight line Sept. 13 bringing the students face to face with math and science experts, who also happen to be Airmen.

The students selected to attend were those who plan to pursue careers in science- or technology-related fields, like 10th grader Jordan Cesneros.

"At my high school I'm in this thing called engineering academy, so we came here to basically learn about engineering and stuff," Jordan said. 

Many of the displays were interactive. Getting the teens up close to, and inside of,  some of the Air Force's most advanced aircraft, including the C-17 Globemaster III, the F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon and KC-135 Stratotanker.

As part of Air Force Week Honolulu, base officials wanted to inspire the young people and to further their interests in science and technology, whether they choose to pursue a career in the Air Force or in the civilian sector.

Officials hope seeing how the Air Force leverages technology helps keep these young minds focused on the future. And for many, it was an easy sell. Jordan, who wants to be an engineer, admitted he wasn't altogether sure about that before Education Day.

"Now I'm looking forward to, you know, studying hard and being an engineer," Jordan said.

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