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By Lee Greenway

Taking Flight

After Brittni Giddens earned her bachelor’s MGA’S GROWING SCHOOL
degree in behavioral sciences, she had a MacOonF AVIATION PREPARES
realization. “That wasn’t what I wanted
to do.” An aunt who was working at Robins Air STUDENTS FOR CAREERS
Force Base encouraged Giddens to look at a career IN ALL AREAS OF GEORGIA’S
in aviation. “I fell in love with it,” she says. “Since FASTEST-GROWING INDUSTRY
then, it’s been airplanes, airplanes, airplanes.”
Now pursuing her associate’s degree in For details about MGA’s School of Aviation, including degree
aircraft structural technology (AST), Giddens is and certificate program offerings, visit www.mga.edu/aviation.
one of a growing class of central Georgians look- Residents of Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, & Tennessee may be
ing for a career in the state’s second-largest and eligible to pay in-state tuition for MGA’s aviation degree programs.
fastest-growing industry: aerospace. https://www.mga.edu/admissions/out-of-state-waiver.php
PwC’s 2017 Aerospace Manufacturing At-
tractiveness Index, an annual report ranking As part of a statewide expansion plan, MGA’s School of Aviation is
nations and U.S. states on how inviting they are now the fixed base operator (FBO) of the Macon Downtown Airport.
to aerospace manufacturing companies, places
Georgia at the top of the list of U.S. states, and the
U.S. at the top of the list of nations. The industry
has an economic impact of more than $64 billion
annually in Georgia, according to the Georgia
Department of Economic Development, and
aerospace products are the state’s largest interna-
tional export market, with annual sales reaching
more than $8 billion.
Of course, large sales numbers mean a large
workforce – aerospace companies currently
employ more than 99,000 Georgians – and a large
workforce needs a lot of educational resources.
Middle Georgia State University’s (MGA)
School of Aviation – the only public, four-year
aviation school in Georgia – has programs de-
signed to help students fill roles in every corner
of the aerospace industry – from manufacturing
to maintenance, from logistics to logbook. And
as Georgia continues to cement its role as the top
destination for aerospace industry in the world,
MGA continues to expand its offerings to help
prepare students for a career in making things fly.

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4 MIDDLE GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY