Cool story alert!
Meet Phaedra Ovdiyenko, a senior in our Digital Design and Interactive Media program from Johnstown. Phaedra has her Glider Pilots License, and she is going for her powered (PAR) aircraft license soon!
There are not many teenagers with their glider pilots license, so we asked her how this interest was sparked in her. She said that her dad “loves aviation” and it “rubbed off on me at a young age.” Phaedra’s father returned to his interest in gliding in 2020, and Phaedra went along and “fell in love with it.” In April of 2023 Phaedra earned her license, and she now has over 100 hours in aircraft flight time to her credit.
The Ovdiyenko family now has its own glider, an L-33 Solo, and Phaedra says she “feels really lucky to have the opportunity.”
We asked this young lady what was next for her after graduation and she told us that she plans to go to flight school, with the ultimate goal of becoming a commercial pilot.
It seems to us she is well on her way!
