Coveted Military Scholarship Awarded to APS Students

The two high school juniors are among only a couple of hundred worldwide to receive the Air Force JROTC Flight Academy award.

Del Norte/ NexGen Academy junior Veronica Bearup and Volcano Vista junior Luke Vaughn are among two of only 230 students worldwide to receive prestigious Air Force Junior ROTC Flight Academy scholarships.

Cadets Bearup and Vaughn will attend an accredited aviation university participating in a private pilot license training program this summer.

More than 1,340 JROTC cadets applied for the scholarships from Headquarters Air Force Junior ROTC, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama.

More than 120,000 high school students enrolled in Air Force Junior ROTC at almost 875 high schools in the United States and overseas. The scholarships cover transportation, room and board, academics, and flight hours required to potentially earn a private pilot license. The scholarship is valued at approximately $22,500.

The Flight Academy Scholarship Program is an Air Force-level initiative in collaboration with the commercial aviation industry to address the national civilian and military pilot shortage. The Flight Academy allows aspiring young aviators to get their Private Pilot’s Certification, at no cost, during an eight-week summer course at partner universities. This incurs no military commitment while providing a college transcript. Those who participate in the program do not incur a military commitment to the Air Force or other branch of service, nor does completing the program guarantee acceptance into one of the military’s commissioning programs.