Clovis South High will launch Aviation and Aerospace Science Pathway next year

CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) — As buildings are still being constructed at the future home of Clovis South High School, so are the programs that will be offered to students.

One of the new Career Technical Education programs launching next year is the Aviation and Aerospace Science Pathway.

It’s a first for the district.

“It’ll be open to incoming sophomores, and the purpose of the program is to educate our students into a career, potentially in the aviation world,” said Principal Sonia Torossian, Ph.D.

Torossian says students will begin with an introduction to aviation and science, as well as flight history.

They’ll then move into more technical skills.

“So airplane mechanics, and then also we’ll go into some drone technology, which I think that’s what our students are going to be so excited about, is to be able to leave Clovis South High School after their senior year as a program completer with a certificate to be able to fly drones for commercial business,” Torossian said.

The aviation classroom is nearing completion in the future Industrial Arts Building.

It’s double the size of a typical classroom and will have machinery and a flight simulator installed.

There’s also an outdoor area that students will utilize for hands-on training.

Administrators have been working with Reedley College, which has a flight science program, and Fresno State to build a partnership before it launches.

Torossian believes this program will help participants stand out, whether they head into college or a career.

“Some of these students can walk into a job straight out of Clovis South High School with a job that pays well over Fresno’s living wage, but also some can go on to university and college and advance their degrees,” Torossian said.

She hopes the inaugural class will take advantage of the opportunity and use it to their benefit after high school.

“There’s actually a need for this kind of work, and I hope that they feel a sense of pride that they got to do it, and then they’re hopefully going to make a career out of it,” Torossian said.

The next step is finding the right person to teach the course.

The position is set to be posted in January.

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