Teens Fly High in College’s Plane Construction Course

As high school study assignments go, this one was unusual: Build an airplane. Since February, 14 students from Glendale, Hoover and Daily highs have been working two hours a day, Monday through Thursday, in Glendale Community College’s Aviation Hangar.

“This is the coolest program I’ve ever been in,” said Vahagn Babayan, 18, a senior at Hoover High.

Babayan and his pals spend their time reading mechanical drawings, measuring parts-layouts and actually building small parts for Sky Star’s “Kitfox,” a two-seater with a wingspan of 32 feet.

But that’s fine with Nelson Petatanyan, a 10th-grader at Glendale, and Armond Uguryan, a 12th-grader.

Petatanyan wants to become a pilot. Uguryan wants to become an aviation engineer. It’s the prospect of a career that attracted the teenagers to John Cassel’s course.

It is one of 31 job-training programs the school district administers jointly with Glendale Community College under the Regional Occupational Program, a state-funded initiative to prepare less-skilled adults and youth for the job market. The school district will spend $730,000 this year for the program, Michael Seaton, the district’s career education director, said.

Students and community members at large are trained in such trades as printing, graphics, media arts and computer operation. Seaton said anyone over 16 years of age can attend.

Seaton said if there’s enough interest from the community, Cassel’s course could be a regular feature in Glendale Community College’s annual job training program.

“We can enroll up to 16 students,” Seaton said, adding that students from anywhere in Los Angeles County are welcome.