An interview with the executive team members
One of Mt.A’s largest programs is Aviation, which features a local partnership with Moncton Flight College (MFC) while students earn their BSc, BA or BComm. To create a sense of community amongst Mt.A aviation students, the Mt.A Aviation Society was created several years ago. The Argosy sat down with current President Nawfal Emad and Treasurer Coral Van Vessem.
Emad has been with the Aviation Society since his first year, later becoming secretary, then vice-president. Now in Emad’s fourth year, he is the president. Van Vessem got involved in her second year at Mt.A as a member, and became the merch designer in her third year. Currently, she is the treasurer. The Aviation Society only became officially recognized as a society under the MASU as of the past seven years. Prior to their official status, the Aviation Society previously relied on donations or merch sales to help fund activities. “Since joining up with MASU, we have access to funding applications, can book venues, and [the society had access to] more resources,” says Emad.
In addition to the Aviation Society, the new Women in Aviation Society was launched this year through the work of Van Vessem, second-year Faith Mulholland, and third-year Veronica (Ronnie) Sawyer. Van Vessem explained the society, “was created this year to offer more opportunities for women in aviation as a more underrepresented group. Faith’s goal was to find opportunities, scholarships, and help everyone get to know each other.” Over the summer, the trio formalized a constitution, which was approved in the beginning of the fall semester by the MASU. So far, the Women in Aviation Society has co-hosted a trivia event with other societies, including Women in STEM, Women in Politics and International Relations, and other societies. Van Vessem said, “[the trivia event] was really fun, and we’re just getting our foot in the door and finding ideas people like.” The Women in Aviation Society executive team has recently sent out feedback forms to see what members are interested in for the winter term.
When asked about what sets the aviation program apart from other degrees at Mt.A, Emad and Van Vessem both expressed a number of challenges. Emad described how demanding the weekly schedule can be despite only being enrolled in three courses at Mt.A. “[We attend ground school] nine hours a week, plus everything at the flight college. Each flight takes around two hours to plan, the drive to MFC is 30 minutes, each flight is two to three hours on average, and then the drive back [to Sackville].” Emad also explained how ground school is geared towards students completing written exams, with numerous exams throughout the semester taking place during ground school for all three years, as well as Transport Canada exams administered by the province in Moncton. Van Vessem explained a challenge with Mt.A’s institutional requirements with scholarships. “Because we only have three Mt.A classes and ground school doesn’t count towards [our] GPA, it’s harder to maintain a higher GPA. You have fewer classes going towards it and a higher workload.” Aviation students have to be very careful with time management, saysVan Vessem. “I don’t know many aviation students, if any, that have been able to keep their scholarship,” said Van Vessem. This demonstrates an inequality for aviation students in relation to Mt.A’s policies on entrance scholarships.
Despite the challenges, Emad explains there is a very strong community amongst aviation students, especially during logging flight hours in second and third year. “We would be in ground school together and then all drive to the airport and see everyone again,” he said. “Being up flying talking to everyone in your class while in the sky was fun. You’d be going through all phases of your day with each other.”
As for Aviation Society events still to come, there will be a tour of the Moncton Airport operations building, as well as a water pong tournament on campus in The Pond on Nov. 28. “Upcoming events include sticker sales at the airport and on campus, new sticker designs, quarter-zips and hoodies with a new design,” Emad explained. In the winter semester, there will be a career fair at the Moncton Airport and the annual Aviation Gala at the end of the year, plus smaller events to be determined.
The Aviation Society can be found on Instagram @mtaaviationsociety and Women in Aviation @mta_womeninaviation.