TAMA STEM Aviation Day; 1st ever innovative youth initiative

Telugu Association of Metro Atlanta (TAMA) organized the 1st ever initiative across the US, ‘STEM Aviation Day’ at Augusta Flight school, Augusta Airport on 11th Feb 2023. Though it’s a 3 hour drive from Atlanta, many middle and high schoolers participated passionately.

TAMA has been taking a lot of such initiatives since ages. 2023 is more youth focused, which was already manifested at the recent Sankranthi celebrations. Aviation enthusiastic couple Ms. Samta Shetty and Mr. Nandi Shetty started Augusta Flight School (www.airAGS.com) 5 years ago, which is the first of its kind, owned by an Indian origin woman entrepreneur.

All the families assembled at the flight school around 1:30 pm. TAMA President Sairam Karumanchi welcomed everyone. Nandi explained different aspects of aviation, careers and opportunities. Chief guest Mr. TR Reddy, a renowned Entrepreneur and Humanitarian spoke about youth, their capabilities and how they can contribute to better society. His experiences and life stories were quite inspirational. He was felicitated by TAMA Technology Secretary Suneel Devarapalli and Nandi.

Nandi explained pilots experiences, STEM relevance to Aviation industry and helped students in understanding basics of Aerodynamics. Building and launching paper planes is a well received activity. Session on women in Aviation and STEM careers by Samta was thought provoking.

A walk to the airplane, especially through the private jet area runway is quite amazing, followed by sitting in the training Airplane and observing the cockpit. Everyone is given this opportunity, along with students. Snacks and beverages were provided. Students were given an Aviation book for reference.

TAMA team and ladies felicitated Nandi and Samta. Parents were very happy and thanked TAMA for such a lovely life time experience. They requested to have more such informative and beneficial tours. Suneel thanked all the parents and students for availing this fabulous field trip.

Sairam mentioned that TAMA and Augusta flight school will work more collaboratively in future, thanked and appreciated Samta and Nandi for providing this great opportunity. If you would like to know more about TAMA happenings, please visit www.tama.org or send email to [email protected].