Each year at the beginning of March, the aviation community celebrates the anniversary of the world’s first female pilot license, earned by Raymonde de Laroche on March 8, 1910. Women of Aviation Week was established on the centennial anniversary of this achievement in 2010 to not only honor this achievement but also to promote aviation careers and involvement to future generations of women. This year at Garmin, we hosted festivities for the second straight year aimed at inspiring and encouraging local youth to pursue aviation and other STEM-related fields — incorporating science, technology, engineering or math.

Amelia Rose Earhart speaking about her around-the-world flight.

Monday, March 4: Kickoff Celebration 

We kicked off the week by hosting families at our headquarters located in Olathe, Kansas, with flight simulator lab tours, an aviation-themed photo booth, build-a-plane projects and more. The evening was capped off with an inspiring presentation by around-the-world pilot and former Kansas City resident Amelia Rose Earhart.

More than 40 local high school students went for rides in Garmin aircraft.

Tuesday, March 5: High School Hangar Days

On the second day, our flight operations team took a break from their busy schedule of certifying avionics to provide free flights in Garmin aircraft to local high school students. They also got a behind-the-scenes look at how a department operates from hangar tours to simulator flights.

Wednesday, March 6: STEM Outreach

Members of our human resources and aviation engineering teams visited Kansas City metro schools to educate about opportunities in aviation and STEM fields. They also worked with students on a build-a-plane project to ignite the aviation spark.

Thursday, March 7: High School Hangar Days

High school students once again joined us on for another day of flights and hangar tours with our flight operations team. All-in-all, we ended up providing nearly 50 students flights in aircraft ranging from our Diamond DA-40 to a Beechcraft Baron.

During our STEM outreach day, students learned about opportunities in aviation and built an airplane!

Friday, March 8: Mercury 13 Presentation

Kansas City native and Mercury 13 program participant Sarah Gorelick Ratley joined us at Garmin headquarters to talk about her history in aviation and experiences as a pioneer for the space program. Additionally, local certified flight instructor Jeanné Willerth spoke about learning to fly, and her adventure of flying into EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.

Garmin is thrilled to have an opportunity to share our passion and enthusiasm for all aviation and STEM opportunities. Be sure to follow us for our latest news and events on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!