Every 16-year-old dreams of that magic birthday when they can get their driver’s license and hopefully a car to go a long with it. Well, Cleveland STEM student, Sydney-Marie Flowers, skipped the asphalt and headed straight to the sky when she got her license, just not to drive a car.
Flowers was picked as one out of 20 students from the entire country to attend a prestigious aviation school where she was sponsored by the U.S. Air Force in Tuskegee, AL.
In an interview with WKYC, Flowers told the media outlet that, “I just felt that it was a real accomplishment for me, and also a privilege to step on the same field the Tuskegee airman stepped on.”
Flowers has made history by joining the ranks of a small group of black female pilots. According to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the flight industry is only comprised of 4.4 percent female and those numbers are even smaller for black women, who only make up 2.7 percent of the airline transportation industry.
Flowers gives credit to being exposed early to the industry in high school. She credits both Davis Aerospace and Maritime High School and PHASTAR, a nonprofit that helped launch the high school, to her success. We cannot wait to see what things await this phenomenal young lady. It without a doubt that we will seeing more of her in the news for many years to come.
