Feature
Astoria Student
Soars to Top With
New Scholarship
www.qns.com I LIC COURIER I NOVEMBER 2018 41
BY BILL PARRY
A junior at Vaughn College of Aeronautics
and Technology in East Elmhurst
is a recipient of the $5,000 International
Aviation Women’s Association scholarship.
Rebecca Petraglia of Astoria and
four other college students received
the award at the IAWA’s 30th annual
conference held in Memphis, Tennessee
in October.
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Petraglia
moved to New York in 2010 and
enrolled at Aviation High School in
Long Island City to follow her interest
in airplanes and flying.
“Airports were always fascinating
but working in aviation was always
just a dream,” Petraglia said. “Then I
learned about Aviation High School
and was able to find a solid path towards
a career in aviation. At Aviation
High School I was able to learn and
understand the various career fields
and I was introduced to Aircraft Maintenance.
There I found a career path
that I was truly good at, because I
had a natural talent for working with
my hands.”
After high school, Petraglia was
hired by Envoy Air where she was
introduced to maintenance operations.
Months later, she was hired by JetBlue
for its Maintenance Apprentice Program,
where she trained with highly
knowledgeable mechanics; at the end
of the apprenticeship, Petraglia was offered
a job by JetBlue as a technician.
She is currently working at Jet-
Blue while also studying full-time at
Vaughn College, majoring in Aviation
Maintenance Management.
“I chose this degree because I want
to be able to improve how airlines
operate their maintenance program,”
Petraglia said. “This degree is the foundation
for the understanding of that
and how to safely manage manpower
and get the tasks accomplished.”
As for her future, Petraglia hopes
to become a United States Air Force
Maintenance Officer to learn a different
side of aviation and is a contracted
cadet of the Air Force ROTC,
being trained to become a leader.
Her goal is to be awarded a Commission
in the U.S. Air Forcec where she
plans to stay for 20 years. After the
Air Force, she would like to join the
reserves and work at a civilian airline
company managing their maintenance
department.
Petraglia is also contemplating
studying for a master’s degree, possibly
in business administration.
Photo courtesy of Vaughn College
/www.qns.com
