In "The Wizard of Oz," Dorothy pondered: "Birds fly over the rainbow, why then, oh why can't I?"
Michael Richardson wasn't in Kansas. He was in his hometown of Detroit when he looked skyward and saw birds cavorting in their winged ways. He wondered "why then, oh why can't I?"
Richardson, a senior at Western majoring in aviation flight science, says he got the flying bug from the birds, but it didn't become something of a personal pandemic until his last year in high school. And it took a bit of soul-searching.
"I asked myself about all the things that interested me," he recalls. "There was a tie among music education, culinary arts, photography and aviation. As a kid, I was always fascinated with flying. Driving around with my parents, I would always tend to watch the skies."
Next came the decision of where to pursue that interest and guidance came from WMU alumni who had graduated from his home high school. No doubt the Western Michigan University College of Aviation was the most renowned program of its ilk in the Midwest. Plus, Richardson says, "I was just far enough across the state from my family but close enough to come home often."
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Almost immediately in his Western career, Richardson came to understand the value of networking, gaining that insight while serving as a student leader during the University's orientation programs. "I saw how getting involved can enhance the total collegiate experience," he says."
In other words, networking and involvement were not for the birds. Since then, he's added to his resume stints as a resident assistant, "fall welcome ambassador," and Orientation Student Leader. Currently, Richardson serves as the vice-president of the WMU chapter of the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals, which seeks to create more diversity in the aviation industry.
That taking-part philosophy applies outside of academia as well. Richardson is on the payroll of the Air Zoo Aerospace and Science Museum in Kalamazoo where, he says, the most enjoyable part of the job is urging young visitors to follow the career path he is on.
Richardson believes that career is being enhanced by such courses as Dr. Greg Pinnell's flight physiology. "It was awesome to have a first-hand experience with hypoxia (deficiency in the amount of oxygen reaching body tissues) symptoms," he says.
Plus, being something of a renaissance man with continued interests in photography, cooking and music (and a record collection to prove it), Richardson also enjoyed a class in American Sign Language. "I've always wanted to learn about this," he says. "Being able to interact with the deaf community was meaningful to me."
Richardson and fellow WMU Aviation Students with NASA Astronaut Mae Jemison
There were a couple of ancillary benefits to his choice of Western. It gave Richardson the opportunity of interacting with the likes of Mae Jemison and Angela Davis. Former astronaut Jemison was the first African-American female to travel into space aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor. Davis was a black civil-rights and political activist in the 1960s and a professor at University of California at Santa Cruz.
Richardson with civil-rights and political activist Angela Davis
"They are two amazing women who inspired me to continue to stand up for my rights," Richardson says. Still etched in his mind as inspiration is this quote from Jemison: "The future never just happens. It is created."
One of his favorite experiences with the College of Aviation was a flight to the Detroit City Airport. "I could have picked any destination," he says, "but I flew this route because it took me over the west side of Detroit. I was able to fly over my old house and my grandmother's. That's where I spent my days looking up to the sky, fascinated with flight and not knowing that a career in aviation was a possibility for me. It was a reflection of my life's journey," In other words, it was a bird's-eye view of his origins, his roots.
Richardson still has not set his sights on a particular career niche -- flying cargo routes, joining an international air carrier -- even, after doing some "spin-recovering training -- the "fun job" of a stunt pilot. He just knows it will be somewhere, up there.
And as far away from birds as possible.