Aviation museum's career day for LI teens
At the Cradle of Aviation Museum’s career day on Monday, Ahuva Silver, left, and Swamy Del Rio, both from AAR, an aviation parts firm, chat with Britt Webly, 16, a Uniondale High School student. (April 23, 2012) Credit: Newsday/Audrey C. Tiernan
It was STEM day at the Cradle of Aviation Museum Monday, and about 450 high school students poured into the Garden City facility to hear about careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math -- key areas for the future of Long Island and the country.
But there was one pervasive question the students had, and Jacqueline Funes, 16, of Freeport High School, asked it: "How much money can you make?" In these days of financial strain for many people, the question was a good one, agreed museum officials, teachers and executives of some of the 23 Long Island aerospace and technology companies who attended.
The students had broken into groups, stopping by areas of the museum where companies put up displays and showed aircraft parts they make. Funes and a dozen others were listening to Dennis Goldensohn, a manufacturing capacity coordinator for Westbury-based Arkwin Industries Inc., a maker of hydraulics. "Money is nice to have," Goldensohn said, "but it's also nice to use your mind to build things."
Museum director Andrew Parton said the day was focused on getting Long Island high school students interested in engineering and the sciences, areas where the United States is being seriously challenged by China, India and other countries. Some Westbury and Uniondale high school students are already enrolled in STEM classes at the museum.
Finding young engineers "continues to be a problem" for Island companies, Parton said. "We're falling behind China and India" in the sciences, he added.
Peter Rettaliata, chief executive of Air Industries Group Inc., an aircraft-parts maker in Bay Shore, told the students at a gathering before they met with individual companies that the aerospace industry is one of the country's biggest exporters.
"What does that mean to you?" Rettaliata said. "That means there's money in it. It's a growth industry. More people are flying [commercially] than ever before."
All well and good, Goldensohn agreed. But he had one recommendation for future sessions: The kids should leave their cells and iPhones at home.
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