Darrion "Din"

"During the summer of my eighth grade year, I attended a week-long ACE program at Wooddale High School, which teaches about different career paths in aviation and aerospace. That's where my interest in aviation started. I got so much information and learned so much that I was given an award at the end of the week: The ACE of All ACEs. I was inspired by the pilots and other aerospace professionals they brought in. That week they took us flying. There was an pilot right beside me, but I got to sit at the controls. I was scared to death, but it was so much fun that after we got back on the ground, I wanted to go up again and again. I liked the thrill and the excitement. I'm taking flying lessons now to get my hours in, and I'll take the test to get my pilot's license when I turn 17.

"When I finish high school, I'm planning to go to Tuskegee University where I'll enroll in the ROTC Air Force program. After college, I plan to go into the Air Force, where I'll be able to start as a 2nd Lieutenant. I want something that will challenge me, and I think the Air Force will do that. I hope that someday I'll be flying fighter jets.

"People ask me, 'What's your Plan B?' I don't have a Plan B. This is it. This is what I want to do, and I'm going to do what it takes to make it happen. One day, I'd like to start an aviation program for youth so I can give back the way the ACE program has given to me."

• FedEx article (11/13):  FedEx, Aviation Groups Join Community Leaders in Dedicating Upgraded Aviation Center at Wooddale
  
• Commercial Appeal article (11/13):  Wooddale lands ACEs in the classroom

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