Western Maricopa Education Center is using National Aviation Day to highlight its Aviation Maintenance Technology program, where students are training for careers that keep aircraft safe and operational.

The holiday, established in 1939 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, honors the Wright family’s contributions to flight and raises awareness of aviation’s role in society. For West-MEC, a public school district that provides career and technical education across 48 high schools in the West Valley, it offered a chance to show how students are preparing for the industry.

Jay McDowell, the program’s lead instructor and a retired Air Force veteran, described the training as one of West-MEC’s most rigorous.

“We’re the only ones that require four and a half hours a day,” he said.

The curricu

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