"You broke it.", my instructor explained, "You BROKE it!". Broke what? This, shall we say, accident happened after one of the most motivating experiences in my life up to this point. My friend and I both flew with an instructor on a two-hour flight going from my home airport of Buffalo-Niagara to some seemingly random grass airstrip south of Rochester. Being close to a magnificent piece of engineering and controlling it was breathtaking. The hum of the engine, the high-pitched whirring of the gyroscopes, and the wooshing of the air flowing all around the fuselage and wings, all astounding. The aircraft we flew was a Diamond DA-40, and what we supposedly "broke" was a piece of the left engine cowling. Credit to my increased levels of naivete back then, it was seemingly not my fault. It was the people that flew before us, I swear! No matter who supposedly broke it, even though it was probably us, that DA-40 wouldn't be seen up in the air for the next month and a half, and the period that came shortly after that was nick-named by my classmates as the "dry spell". Three out of the four aircraft available to us for flying at our program were down due to mechanical problems. "Why?" I asked, "Why?" was also echoed throughout my class. My instructor did not want to go into the details about what sort of issues the three aircraft, one DA-40 and both of the Piper PA-28s, had; and none of my classmates really cared about the specifics of what was wrong with the aircraft, only that they were gone and they could not fly them. I have to be honest, at the time I did not care about the specifics either. But a couple of weeks into the "dry spell", that level of curiosity would start to change. Almost subconsciously, I became more interested in what made aircraft fly, not just how they fly. How are they powered? How do the instruments supply the necessary information that they do? How are the flight surfaces physically moved? Many questions like these rattled around my brain and as I started to get those questions answered it only deepened my interest in the field. As I continue through the tail end of my high school career, I look at the future with optimism. Now that I have an interest in the field of my desire, all I need is now to be able to reach out and seize that life: life as a mechanic in the airline industry.

“You broke it!” said my vocational school teacher, “I’m not sure what you did but the Diamond will be in the shop for a week now!”. I was not sure what broke on the aircraft exactly so I asked and he answered my question. What specifically broke on the Diamond was a piece of the engine cowling in the front. I’m not sure how we broke the Diamond. Maybe it was the forward slipping maneuver on the final approach or maybe the stalls we did? I’m not sure. Either way, I still had an amazing experience that day. On the 26th of June in 2022 me and my friend, we’ll call him Abby, flew back-to-back flights in a Diamond DA-40 (a small general aviation airplane) from Buffalo-Niagara International Airport (KBUF) to Geneseo airfield (D52). So we took off from KBUF on runway 12 and then headed east towards D52. Along the way to the airport, we did some maneuvers, some turns around a point and some stalls. Along the way, I was allowed to handle part of the cruise toward D52 and that's when it clicked. When I was up in the air, it felt like I was home. I was very comfortable just cruising to my destination, enjoying the surroundings. It wasn't especially beautiful out that day, but it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter what else was happening in my life, just that I was up in the air and having a great time. This flight really solidified my love and passion for flying, as it was the first time I enjoyed the experience. So we arrived at D52, checked out the surroundings, and turned around, heading back to KBUF with Abby at the controls. While on the way back, I got an opportunity to think. “Wow. This is it. This is what I want to do in my life. If I’d be anywhere, it would be up here”. We then arrived at KBUF at 19:00 and debriefed. There is no way I can describe it all. It’s like hope, or maybe inspiration, or maybe confidence. It’s probably a mix of all those, but the one thing I’m sure of is that I want to be flying for the rest of my life. As I continue with my high school journey I have also developed an interest in aeronautical engineering. Questions about how an airplane flies, stays together, and generates electricity rang around my head, and since we made many projects in class such as foam airfoils, foam airplanes, and wooden propeller designs, that has only solidified my interest in the engineering sect of aviation and aviation as a whole. Currently (as of 02/12/2023), I am a senior in high school and have decided that I would like to continue my education at Kent State university. After I get my bachelors in Aeronautics for the Professional Pilot concentration and the respective pilot licenses associated with the program, I will find a job to gain the required flight time to become an airline pilot, probably a flight instructor. After which I intend to enter the professional pilot workspace and see where that will take me; I’m not entirely sure who I’ll work for. I have done community service; I have volunteered for a local food donation organization known as "Tiger's Den". I was responsible for organizing donated food, bagging food for customers, and carrying the food to customers' cars; I also cleaned up after as well, mostly vacuuming and sweeping. This experience has taught me the value of being part of a community and pulling my weight while working.