On May 30, 2020, Dr. Michele Wise-Wright, Milton Pitts Crenchaw Aviation Training Academy (MPCATA) President and Board Chair, was joined by MPCATA Program & Special Events Coordinator Tami East, and MPCATA Advisory Advisory Council Members Gwen Haniff and Kristen (K.V.) Knox, alongside other dignitaries, including US Navy Cmdr Sheree Williams, Director of Officer Programs for Navy Recruiting Command (NRC) in Memphis, TN; Ark Army National Guard Col. Erica Johnson-Ingram, the First Black Female Colonel in the Arkansas National Guard’s 215-year history and who currently serves as Deputy Chief of Staff; and Parents, Friends, Guests, and News Outlets for the $180,000 Scholarship Award Ceremony and Social Distancing Graduation Parade celebration in honor of MPCATA Cadet Paityn Alexas White.
Cadet Paityn Alexas White, a 17-year-old 2020 Graduate of the historic Little Rock Central High School, was awarded a $180,000 National Navy ROTC Scholarship to fund her 4-year college tuition at Clark-Atlanta University where she will major in Physics and Engineering this fall. Paityn has also been identified as one of the elite students to be inducted into the Navy ROTC Morehouse College Unit. In the Summer of 2019, Paityn obtained her Private Pilot License through the “TuskegeeNEXT” program at the Illinois Aviation Academy Flight School in Chicago, Illinois where she was the only selectee from Arkansas, and one of only 14 students nationwide accepted into the program. She is the 1st African American Female student in the history of the LR Central High Schools’ AFJROTC Unit and Little Rock School District, to obtain her Private Pilot License which earned her the right to don the Flight Certificate/Solo Pilot wings and Ground School wing medals, on her uniform. She plans to further her career in Aviation after college, entering the US Armed Forces (Navy) to become a US Fighter Pilot.
The Milton Pitts Crenchaw Aviation Training Academy (MPCATA), a non-profit organization committed to teaching youth about the opportunities in aviation and aerospace, will continue to support Cadet Paityn and all of our other esteemed MPCATA Cadets in their Wings for Dreams, Flight to Success, and Journey to Soar in the legacy of the late Tuskegee Airmen and Aviation Pioneer Dr. Milton Pitts Crenchaw.
Watch Video Here: https://www.facebook.com/1057825504258291/videos/3311207585578634/
