On February 23, Atlas welcomed youth leaders from Greater Cincinnati’s Regional Youth Leadership (RYL) to our Global Operations Center in CVG with the goal of enhancing their educational experience through community engagement. While at Atlas, the students visited our state-of-the-art Global Control Center, where they learned about a variety of career paths in aviation, tips for resume writing, and how to further develop their personal and professional skills.
Students from Regional Youth Leadership (RYL).
RYL is a seven-month leadership development program that uses the community as an extension of the classroom to educate students on opportunities across numerous industries. The visit to Atlas was part of RYL’s Life Success Skills session, where students learn about financial literacy education, career and personal development, college programs and pathways, and the college application/acceptance process. Students are also given opportunities to improve various professional skills such as networking, fostering a personal brand, goal setting, social capital and mastering the art of conversation.
Jamie Handley, Vice President of Express Operations, kicked off the event with a brief overview of Atlas’ business to the students. Andrea Davenport, Senior Manager of Pilot Support; Cheryl Kuebelbeck, Senior Manager of Dispatch Training; Dennis Gerber, Director of Dispatch and Chelsea Fisch, Pilot Support Agent, then led the students on a tour of the CVG facility and the GCC.
Additionally, the students sat in on a panel discussion where Atlas colleagues shared insights into aviation and STEM related careers as well as their personal career journeys. Participating on the panel was Lillian Dukes, Senior Vice President of Technical Operations; Leisa Spears-Snyder, Director of Workforce Development; Whitney Link, Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition; Taylor Montgomery, 767 Captain; Shawn Montgomery, 767 First Officer; Graham Josephson, Reliability Engineer and Teslim Balogun, Line Training Scheduler.
While on a tour of CVG, the students snapped a shot with the Atlas Air Worldwide sign.
Atlas’ dedication to encouraging the next generation of aviation professionals could not come at a more critical time. With severe shortages across all aviation professions, working with organizations like RYL is essential to the long-term growth of the Company, and the aviation industry as whole.
In the 2022-2041 Pilot and Technician Outlook, Boeing reported that 602,000 new pilots, 610,000 new aircraft maintenance technicians and 899,000 new crew members will be needed to “fly and maintain the global commercial fleet over the next 20 years.”
Leisa Spears Snyder, Director, Workforce Development, notes the value in engaging with students at this phase in their education.
“Atlas’ intentional investment in pipeline development creates important opportunities for students to explore the industry and the numerous paths into aviation,” she said. “We are so excited to host programs like Regional Youth Leadership and to provide students the exposure needed to stimulate interest in a variety of roles across the industry.”
