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High school students will build an airplane – The Arts, Science and Technology Education Corp. of Tehachapi (AST) and its anonymous angel donor from The Foundation for the Carolinas has given $85,000.00 to the Tehachapi Society of Pilots (TSP) to fund student construction of a kit airplane. The check, presented at the Tehachapi Society of Pilots Celebration of Flight, Sept. 9, 2017 at Tehachapi Municipal Airport, will purchase a Federal Aviation Administration-certified airplane construction kit . Students from Tehachapi and Monroe high schools and charter, private and home schools are welcome to sign up for the program, which will offer the opportunity to learn about aerospace design, manufacturing, safety and flight operations. The program will give students the hands-on experience of building an airplane that -- if they learn to fly and gain a license -- they ultimately may fly. The TSP has scholarships available for the flight training. FAA-licensed pilots, technicians and mentors from the TSP will teach and assist. Photo above from left, AST volunteer Thane Lundberg, Society of Pilots president Bob Meyer, AST volunteer Nick Altieri, AST secretary Fran Riggs and AST Director Laura Lundberg. Other AST board members are Mark Pestana, Traci Minjares and treasurer Annette Poulson. Laura Lundberg told Forde Files that the anonymous sponsor "has a keen desire to build a unified STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) network in the Southern California area. He would like for Tehachapi to become a center of excellence for astronomy in this network... " He wants students from the region to use AST's Space Shuttle simulator in their building on the THS campus. Contact Paul Nafziger of the TSP at naf1941@gmail.com or 661-972-3156.