Presentation to Highgate Selectboard

Habitat for Aviation had the privilege of presenting to the Highgate Selectboard and town manager, an exciting opportunity to share our mission and the work we’re doing to empower young women in aviation. Some of our Rosie family members took the stage to tell their personal stories of how they started at Habitat for Aviation and the incredible progress they've made since joining our program. Each Rosie shared her journey, from initial interest to current accomplishments, highlighting how Habitat for Aviation has not only provided them with valuable technical skills but also a sense of community, mentorship, and support.

In addition to personal stories, we presented important statistics and facts about the aviation industry, which is currently facing a significant shortage of pilots, airplane mechanics, air traffic controllers, and other aviation professionals. The need for skilled workers in aviation has never been greater, and our mission is to address that gap by offering hands-on learning opportunities and apprenticeships to the next generation of women in the field.

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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Spike Out Cancer: A Night of Strength, Support, and Pink Overalls