From Intern to Operator: Hudson's Aviation Management Journey
Reed Hudson is one of those typical College of Aviation enrollees whose resumes are chock full of academic and professional achievements.
Except he's gone one step further -- being designated "Aviation Student of the Year" for 2025 by the Michigan Department of Transportation.
A senior majoring in aviation management and operations, Hudson exemplifies the wisdom of internships. He's had two at Cherry Capital Airport in his northwest-Michigan home community of Traverse City. And when the ink is dry on his WMU diploma this May, he'll join that facility's executive staff as a full-timer.
When it came to choosing a professional path in life, Hudson did not have to look beyond his daily existence growing up. Dad, who served in the Coast Guard for 20 years, spent much of the time up in the sky and not on the water. "Being able to watch him fly and be a role model," Hudson says, "ma
de me want to be a pilot for the longest time."
The senior Hudson is now a pilot for the Traverse City operations of 45 North Aviation, a full-scale enterprise that also has outlets in Alabama and Virginia. Mom is the manager of charter operations for the business that is the fixed-base operator at Cherry Capital, as well as offering charter services, airplane management, and sales. "Both of these exposures made me want to pursue a degree in aviation," he says, initially as a pilot and eventually in aviation management.
Hudson is a 2023 graduate of Grand Traverse Academy, a tuition-free, K-12 charter public school that is ranked as one of the best of its kind in the nation. Small in nature, the academy offered limited advanced-placement courses, so he signed up for upper-level English and math classes as a dual-enrollee at Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) based in his hometown.
Ironically, NMC does offer a two-year degree program in aviation flight, but Hudson chose to focus on four-year curriculums and took a look at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and the University of North Dakota.
Western won out, he says, for a couple of reasons -- proximity to home and the weather. The winter environment in North Dakota was not appealing. What did sell him was Western's "really modern aviation campus" at Battle Creek's Kellogg Field and its "integration to the old ATC tower." He also liked Western's limited specialization in aviation degrees.
"Embry-Riddle offered so many classes," he says. "I felt I wouldn't get a better education because so many fields are sharing so many classes."
His initial plan was to major in aviation flight science, but before that ever came to be, his father arranged a chat with Dan Sal, Cherry Capital's chief operating officer, and Chris Sielucki, the operations manager. "After that meeting," Hudson says, "I walked away and changed my degree to management and operations. I was inspired by their passion and dedication, and their love for their jobs. It awoke that passion in me."
That session also paved the way for his two summer internships, experiences that were enhanced by his favorite class -- "Aviation Ops" taught by master faculty specialist Jessica Birnbaum. "Not only did it apply directly to the job I was working for," he says, "but she is so passionate and knowledgeable about all things 'operations.'"
Hudson is also passionate about something else -- the value of internships. In that light, he says, there is no such thing as a dumb question because "I came in with lots of them" the summer after his freshman year. And that resulted in lots of knowledge and insights. "Dan and Chris became my mentors, they were always willing to help me figure things out and come to my aid."
Part of his second internship was the responsibility to prepare a comprehensive report that analyzed "delays" at Cherry Capital from 2020 to 2025. "The airport installed a new ILS (instrument landing system -- precision radio navigation that offers short-range guidance allowing aircraft to approach a runway at night or in bad weather) on Runway 10 in 2023," he says. "My job was to determine how many delays, cancellations or diversions were a result of not having ILS on Runway 10."
A competitive swimmer since his days in elementary school, he's dedicated much of his college time to coaching that sport at a variety of levels and age groups. There always seems to be a swimming meet on his calendar. His latest is a club swimming team called the Greater Kalamazoo Crocs.
Like many College of Aviation students, he's been infatuated with the fates and fortunes of Western's national-championship hockey team.
Outside of his professional realm, Hudson has gained tremendous perspectives from three Western courses in history. One in particular focused on the Holocaust. "I love all things World War II," he says. Those classes have "broadened my horizons."
Hudson wasn't the only College of Aviation connection to the statewide accolades awarded by the department's Office of Aeronautics. Chosen "Aviation Educator of the Year" was instructor Stephanie Ward, an aviation planner and pilot for Mead and Hunt, a 125-year-old architectural, engineering and construction-services firm with an outlet in Lansing.
Hudson is advancing in his career (next step -- operations supervisor at Cherry Capital) while also facing the challenge of being a "Type 1 diabetic," which he regards as "a life-long battle. It has taught me to be resilient and inspired me to not let a chronic disease control my life. Type 1 diabetics can still fly," he says, "but the process to get a 'medical' is much more strict.”
"After my meeting with Dan and Chris," he says, "I wondered about how hard I would have to try to not only get my 'medical' but also to hold it through college -- all that would be a great challenge. Thus, if I was passionate about airport operations, then that would be the best course for me."
And it was.