Teachers learn about careers at 186th ARW

By Staff
SIMULATED FLIGHT Jena Wiggins, left, a technical applications teacher at West Lauderdale High School, and Veonne Howell, a computer discovery teacher at West Lauderdale Middle School, smile after spending about 20 minutes in a KC-135R Stratotanker flight simulator at the Mississippi Air National Guard's 186th Air Refueling Wing. The teachers were part of a group about 20 vocational teachers from the Lauderdale County School District who toured the 186th ARW to learn about career opportunities at the base. SUBMITTED PHOTO
By Georgia E. Frye / staff writer
August 5, 2004
As West Lauderdale Middle School teacher Veonne Howell stepped out of a flight simulator at the Mississippi Air National Guard's 186th Air Refueling Wing, she said it really felt like she was flying.
Jena Wiggins, who teaches technical applications at West Lauderdale High School, said the simulated flight did not make her sick like she thought it would.
Howell and Wiggins were two of about 20 Lauderdale County vocational and technical teachers who toured the Mississippi Air National Guard's 186th Air Refueling Wing and Meridian's Key Field earlier this week. Lindsey Keene, vocational director for Lauderdale County Schools and a member of the 186th's medical squadron, organized the tour.
He said he wanted the teachers to know that each vocational and technical course taught in the county schools could be used at the 186th.
Maj. Brad Crawford, a spokesman for the 186th, spent most of Tuesday showing the teachers around the base.
Crawford said the tour was important because about half of the 1,050 people who make up the 186th ARW are from Lauderdale County. During the tour, teachers saw the medical unit and the hangar, and they visited some of the shops where airplane maintenance is performed.
Crawford said most jobs are filled by members of the unit, but somecivilian jobs are available in administration and security.
He said Key Field is one of only four units in the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command that operates a KC-135R flight simulator. More than 400 aircrew members from across the country were trained in Meridian last year.
Howell said she plans to take what she learned back to the classroom.
Wiggins agreed: "This has helped me to see what is in the community so I can take it back to my students."