The first ever Wayman Student Festival was held on the 25th of January, 2020 from 11am-3pm. It was a memorable event filled with food, games and lots of fun. The festival was also a much needed breather from the consistent and intense hard work and focus that our students show day in and day out. Our brilliant student leaders planned most of the festival and did an amazing job of bringing everything together.
The Chinese cadets cooked up some authentic chinese food like steamed beef brisket with potato, rice, broiled chicken wings and other great dishes. There was also an outside grill manned by some of our student leaders where hot dogs were being prepared around the clock. Cold beverages were also available to keep everyone refreshed in the hot South Florida sun. Music was being played to set the tone for the whole festival and there was even a tie dye stand where students designed their own T-shirts!
One of our honorary students Marcelo from Peru came back and spoke briefly to our students. He was once a student leader and also got his Flight Instructor certificate at Wayman and now flies as an instructor for Wayman. When Wayman alumni returns to speak it always helps to motivate and inspire students currently earning their ratings. It shows students that their hard, consistent work and focus will eventually pay off with them achieving the goal of reaching the airlines!
There were many fun, light-hearted games available for students to participate in. There was a paper airplane toss to see who’s paper airplane would go the farthest and a blindfold egg race that made many of us chuckle. The push-up contest to prove who has the strongest biceps was a surprise with our Turkish student Orhun grabbing the win! Water balloons were flying across the parking lot all afternoon and different groups of students and guests played cornhole. But the most exciting game was the tug-o-war contests between different student groups. A few of the tug-o-war match-ups were the instructors vs the students with the students winning, Chinese vs Turkish students with the Chinese students winning and Caribbean vs Colombian students with Caribbean students winning. Bragging rights were definitely earned! To wrap it all up, a few rounds of musical chairs were played filled with laughs.
Some of the games we had during our festival
A few of the designated pilot examiners (DPEs) that work with us came and spent some time talking to different groups of students. The knowledge and experience that they shared will help students make more informed decisions as they start to progress through their career. Furthermore, the 99s which is an international non-profit, charitable organization of licensed women pilots from around the world that helps connect aviators and provides scholarships had several representatives that came. They briefly spoke about what they do and offered the chance to become a part of their organization.
The first Wayman student festival turned out to be a huge success. The festival proved to be very entertaining and was also a great networking opportunity. The next one is sure to be even greater with more games, more networking opportunities and more past alumni that can offer words of encouragement and motivation. What would you like to see at our next student festival? Leave a comment!
