Honesty Stanifer, an 18-year-old from Franklin, Ohio, was introduced to aviation at the age of 13 when she took her first helicopter ride.
“I always kind of liked aviation just because my grandfather was in the Air Force,” Honesty said. “He wasn’t a pilot, but he worked on aircraft, so that was something fun we always talked about.”
Honesty joined the EAA family in December 2018, after she unexpectedly got to talking about the organization at a family birthday dinner.
“It’s actually kind of funny. I was at a birthday dinner for one of my family members, and I met somebody there and they introduced me to Mark Swinford [EAA 384636]. He didn’t have his airplane built yet, but he said, ‘Why don’t you go up with this man named Eric Puschmann.’ And we went up and we kind of just formed a good relationship from there.”
EAA Chapter 382 Ray Aviation Scholarship coordinator Eric Puschmann said Honesty is the chapter’s second award recipient.
“She is an outstanding young lady [who is] very focused on her career and completing school debt free,” Eric said.
The chapter surprised Honesty with the Ray Aviation Scholarship Award on December 9, 2019, at the annual Christmas party.
“I filled out the papers, and Eric told me I was in the running, but I had no idea they were going to present it to me that night and I was just shaking,” Honesty explained. “They were giving out awards, like most flights this year, and stuff like that. And they were like, ‘We’re going to give away our Ray scholarship,’ and they gave me a plaque and had a really nice cake for me. So, that was really cool.”
Honesty is in her senior year in the aviation program at Warren County Career Center Aerospace Academy, and was recently accepted to Sinclair Community College, where she plans to start classes in fall 2020 in pursuit of her A&P certificate.
“The ultimate goal is to be a commercial pilot, but I’m going to college at Sinclair Community College to get my airframe and powerplant just to pretty much fund my piloting goals,” Honesty said.
Honesty said receiving this scholarship is a dream come true, as it will help her to afford college.
“I was actually working two jobs this summer before I got that Ray scholarship to pay for flight lessons,” Honesty said. “Having the Ray scholarship really opens up some other doors, like being able to pay for college without student loans and stuff like that.”