My First Semester at WMU

Published by Shelbi Tierney on Mon, Dec 21, 2015

Cole Dillon
Aviation Flight Science 

Going home for Christmas break, family members are going to ask “so was college everything you imagined it would be?” Undoubtedly, my answer every time will be ‘yes but also so much more.’ With my home being so close to campus (only an hour away), I thought I would go home almost every weekend. Towards the beginning of the semester, I followed this plan. I went home and I worked my job back home about every other weekend. However, I started having such a blast at school that when I was scheduled to work at home for a weekend, I began to dread that weekend and did not want to go home. I had already made so many new friends and it became worth it to stay in the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek area on the weekends.

Classes at Western for the first year aviation student are an excellent transition into the college environment. My schedule for this fall was composed of a First Year Seminar, Health and Wellness, Introduction to Aviation, Aerodynamics and Performance, and Instrument Ground School, all the while working towards my instrument rating. The class designed for first year students was beneficial in that my section was fully composed of aviation students so I was able to meet peers in my college. I was also able to see university resources that I ended up utilizing later on in the semester. The health class is a mandatory class for my major and it was interesting because I was able to rock climb every week which was fun! Introduction to Aviation is located in a large lecture hall with about 200 students. The class was interesting and focused on all aspects of aviation’s past, present, and future. Aerodynamics is a class that focuses on the science of air and how an aircraft flies. This is a basic class that every aviation major will take. Instrument Ground School is a class for Aviation Flight Science majors which teaches the students the fundamentals of flying in little to know visibility and how to rely on the aircraft instruments in all phases of flight. I was able to practice this knowledge in the airplane as well, as I was enrolled in Instrument Flying as well and I am now almost finished up with my instrument rating!

With my busy schedule and my social interactions with friends, towards the end of the semester I almost never went back home. Some of the best learning in college happens outside of the classroom.