The Purpose, Power & Promise of Public Education

Written By Beth White

Seven Days Reporter, Alison Novak, invited Aziza Malik, Joe Carroll, and Beth White to a conversation about the Future of Education as part of UVM’s Philosophy Week.

Habitat for Aviation was honored to be part of the conversation with three innovative and inspiring Vermonters, Aziza Malik, Joe Carroll, and Alison Novak where we challenged the conventional notions of what school should and could be.

Alison Novak, Aziza Malik, Beth White, and Joe Carroll discuss what school can be.

Burlington elementary school teacher and Vermont Teacher of the Year Aziza Malik shared how she is engaging her elementary-school learners in meaningful work alongside community partners. Montpelier High School philosophy and Healthy Masculinity teacher Joe Carroll spoke about his work with the boys affinity group as part of his innovative semester-long class where the learners were in the driver’s seat.

Our very own Pilot-in-Command, Beth White, shared about her journey supporting public schools in the Big Picture Learning Network along with why she developed Habitat for Aviation.

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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