Annual Board Meeting

Written By Beth White

2023-2024 was a testament to what can happen when youth are guided and given the opportunity to explore and deepen their interests alongside supportive adults and skilled mentors who allow them to engage in real-world work that matters.

Board members Katie Clark, Charlie Plant, and Beth White came together with just under a dozen champions of Habitat for Aviation's mission to reflect on and celebrate the incredible progress made during 2023-2024. Among the attendees were notable supporters like Rayan El-Kotob, George Coy, Zoe Brosky, Tyler Seeholzer, Meg Smith, Kyle Clark, Willa Clark, and Chris Doyle. "They have done so much with so little," said Kyle Clark, CEO/Founder of BETA Technologies and a dedicated supporter of the cause. Together, they reviewed the beautiful and detailed annual report that highlighted key accomplishments of the year.

In addition to celebrating the year's achievements, the group looked toward the future. Meg Smith shared plans to launch a 3-year capital campaign in mid-fall, while Dr. Scott Boldt discussed the external evaluation he conducted alongside Dr. Lisa Natkin, which will be published as a white paper later this year. The meeting, hosted by BETA Technologies, was a meaningful moment of reflection and gratitude for the unwavering support that continues to propel Habitat for Aviation's success.

Beth White

Education Possibilitarian, Artist, Writer, Doula, Mentor, Aviatrix, Breast Cancer Survivor, Pilot-in-Command at Habitat for Aviation


In the spring of 2022, Beth White emerged from a 10-month battle with breast cancer with an idea: to create an apprenticeship program at Franklin County State Airport where youth work alongside adult mentors servicing conventional and electric aircraft. A pilot and airplane mechanic apprentice herself, and with family roots in the trades, Habitat for Aviation provides an taxilane for world learning opportunities for youth and adults who love to work with their hands to enter the FAA’s apprenticeship certification track. Each day she puts systems in place that make real John Dewey’s philosophy that we “learn best what we live” – a deep throughline from her time at Antioch University New England and as Regional Director for Big Picture Learning. Each learning experience is grounded in relationships, relevance, and practice. In October, 2023, Habitat for Aviation launched its Women Build Planes program, where an all-female team of Modern Day Rosies is building an airplane at Franklin County Airport, in northwestern Vermont, to show folks everywhere that despite the fact that only 2.6% of airplane mechanics are female, women BUILD, FLY, and FIX airplanes.

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