A banner featuring students in the South Alberta Flight Academy. (Photo Courtesy Kevin Kyle)

By Chris Brown

Wings Over Southern Alberta Gala will support Flight Academy students

Mar 22, 2023 | 12:21 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A gala this weekend will help students of the Dave Rozdeba South Alberta Flight Academy continue on their flight paths to careers in the aviation field.

Saturday’s Wings Over Southern Alberta Gala is a fundraiser for students of the academy offered by Prairie Rose Public Schools. They’ll be going to Washington, D.C. in June.

“In Prairie Rose, we’re trying to ignite minds and kindle hearts and so by going on this trip we’re hoping that the students will even fall more in love with aviation than they already are,” says flight academy lead Dana Marshall. “We’ve got a lot planned a lot of aviation-themed activities like going to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. We have a trip also for a lot of the universities and schools down there that deal with aviation including Georgetown University.”

Other planned activities for the trip include touring the Battleship Wisconsin and the birthplace of NASA, the Johnson Space Centre, as well as more casual outings like a baseball game and learning how to surf.

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The gala will feature dinner, dancing and live entertainment from Christie Kurpjuweit. items available in a silent auction include time in Super T Aviation’s flight simulator, a flight with the Northern Stars Aerobatic Team, a Medicine Hat Tigers jersey, MacKenzie Porter concert tickets and various gift baskets and gift cards.

The night, taking place at the Super T Aviation hangar, will be emceed by Trevor Moore.

Tickets are available by calling the Prairie Rose Public Schools office at 403-527-5516.

If you can’t make it on Saturday there is another way to support the academy. A raffle for a roundtrip for two anywhere WestJet flies was launched this week to support the academy’s plane build.

Students have been building the plane since 2020 and the maiden flight should happen soon.

“Our plane has just passed its inspection from Transport Canada, it is officially air worthy. We’re just waiting for the certificate and then our plane will start flying,” says Marshall.

If that certificate shows up in time, Marshall says the first flight will take place at Saturday’s gala.

Tickets for the raffle are available from any academy student or the school division office. The draw will be made on June 2.