ABOVE: From right: Fairmont High School seniors, Dayton Draper, Axel Chapman and Owen Blaufuss, stand in front of Jerry Brooks' plane at the Fairmont Municipal Airport. The three were able to talk to members of the Fairmont Airport Advisory Board this past week about their future plans as they relate to aviation.

FAIRMONT– A number of students who have taken Jerry Brooks’ Principles of Flight class at Fairmont High School have gone on to pursue a career in aviation. Four graduating seniors have plans to further their education and go down a career path in aviation as well.

The two-semester class has been offered at the school since 2018. Brooks, who teaches math but is also a licensed pilot with a plane, teaches students about different career pathways in aviation. Students also have access to four flight simulators and drones at the school and most of them have also not only gone up in the plane with Brooks, but have flown it themselves.

Right now, the class is open to juniors and seniors and capped at 16 though there have been higher numbers in past years. When there’s room available, it’s also offered to students at other area schools.

Owen Blaufuss began taking the first semester of the class last school year as a junior at Martin Luther High School. He and one other student would come to to Fairmont High School (FHS) for the last hour of the day to take the class. For this school year, Blaufuss made the switch to become a full-time student at FHS and take the second semester of the class in his senior year.

His dad, Steve, has a drone photography business and Owen said that’s what got him interested in the first semester class.

Right now, Blaufuss is in the process of joining the National Guard. He also intends to attend Minnesota State University-Mankato (MSU), where he will go through the flight program, though he may end up finishing his schooling at University of North Dakota (UND).

Ultimately, Blaufuss said his plan is to fly fighter jets, a military aircraft.

“If I’m able to do that, UND is probably the best bet. I’ve heard they have the best aviation program around and they also support the military,” Blaufuss said.

Several months ago, FHS senior Dayton Draper flew on a King Air with his dad, James, when he was on business. Draper got the chance to job shadow with the pilot and that, along with hearing good things from others who had taken it, got him interested in taking the two-semester class during the entirety of his senior year.

Axel Chapman, another senior at FHS, said at first he signed up to take the class during his junior year as something to fill his schedule after he had seen the flight simulators. He also had a slight interest as his dad, Tom, was a pilot in the Air Force and he had heard stories about fighter jets. His grandpa, Bob Luedtke, has also had a pilot license.

“When I was a junior and could take the class, I signed up for it. As I was slowly getting into it, and heard about the path to become a pilot, I’m just going with it,” Chapman said.

After graduating later this month, Draper and Chapman will head for Utah this summer as the two are going to attend Utah Valley University Flight School.

Draper said he was originally going to attend Iowa Lakes Community College for aviation but Chapman had wanted to attend a school that was further out of the area.

“I was just looking up flight schools,” Chapman said. “I wanted to get back to the mountains because that’s where I grew up, to Colorado or Utah. We ended up looking at Utah more and went to tour it.”

He said he’s not entirely sure what area of aviation he wants to pursue but right now he’s leaning toward being a commercial pilot.

Draper agreed but said, “I wouldn’t mind flying for companies.”

FHS senior Sawyer Laven went through both semesters last school year as a junior.

“I had heard from some older guys that it was a super fun class and we travel a lot as a family so I had been around airplanes and was curious about them,” he said.

Not originally knowing what he wanted to do after graduating high school, Laven took the class to see if it struck a chord and it did.

Now he’s planning to attend Lakes Area Tech College in Watertown, South Dakota where he will go through an aviation maintenance technician program with the goal of becoming an airplane mechanic.

Speaking about what they’ve liked about the class, Laven said, “He (Brooks) does a lot of different aspects that I really liked. We go over every part of aviation that could be and you really get a sense of everything.”

Without having the class, the students acknowledged that they probably wouldn’t be going on to pursue aviation.

“It definitely sparks the idea for sure,” Draper said.

“This is just getting into it to decide if you want to do it as a career,” added Blaufuss.

The class is a rare offering not just around the region but around the state. Fairmont High School is one of just a handful of schools in Minnesota that has an aviation program. Other schools that offer a class or program are mostly in the metro area, including Minnetonka High School, Eagan High School and Woodbury High School. Duluth East High School also has a program.

How special the offering is is not lost on the students and it’s not lost on Brooks either. He’s thoroughly enjoyed teaching the class and watching his students learn and take a real interest in aviation.

“What started as a personal aviation dream–sparked into a lifelong passion when I earned my private pilot license–has become an incredible opportunity for students at Fairmont High School and surrounding communities. Thanks to the vision and support of district leadership and the school board, we built a program that gives students real, hands-on aviation experiences. Principles of Flight isn’t just another elective–it’s one of Minnesota’s hidden gems,” he said.

As for what some of his past students are up to, Brooks said that Hope Klandered is currently in a flight program at UND, Jackson Utermarck went to Iowa Lakes and is working toward becoming a Certified Flight Instructor there and Ethan Geerdes is also attending Iowa Lakes for aviation. Macy Militello is currently in the flight program at MSU and Noah Nelson also went to MSU, where he is studying air traffic control.