When Dante Kendrick was three years old, his mother knew that he would become a pilot.
“She knew that by seeing me … when there was an airplane in the sky, dropping everything I had in my hands and just staring at the airplane,” said Kendrick, the founder of Next Up Aviation, a nonprofit based in the Inland Empire to propel youth to the aviation and aerospace fields with high-quality and accessible education and training.
Kendrick started taking flying lessons at 14, paying for them by washing planes at Hawthorne Airport and with subsidies from his mother and sister. He achieved his pilot’s license at 17 and since then has logged more than a decade of experience with a range of aircraft, including the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper.
“I pretty much haven’t paid for most of my training,” said Kendrick, who is a volunteer ground instructor for the Fly Compton Foundation.
“Most of it has been sponsored by individuals that wanted to help me get to my goals and ambitions. Throughout years of working with multiple organizations – helping kids with flight simulator instruction, and flying them in airplanes, doing young people’s events at airports – I decided to start my own organization.”
Kendrick launched Next Up earlier this year and has partnered with the Fontana Unified School District and its flight and mechanics program at A.B. Miller High School. In January, Next Up will also get four A.B. Miller students started on earning their pilot’s license. In addition, Kendrick plans to create a pipeline from Fontana’s middle schools to the Miller program.
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“They love that idea – gathering the students at a younger age and getting them excited and interested and showing them different [aviation] career pathways before they get into high school,” said Kendrick.
Next Up is developing an aviation program in partnership with Avalon Carver, one of the oldest community nonprofits in Los Angeles, which provides STEM-related educational experiences for local students. On Dec. 13, Kendrick brought Next Up’s 36-foot mobile aviation classroom to Compton-Woodley Airport for “Explore the Sky: Your Gateway to Aviation,” hosted by SciFly, Avalon Carver’s aviation education program.
The event included interactive STEAM workshops, discussion of career paths within aviation and avionics, and discovery flights, where pilots took students up in small aircraft over Compton-Woodley. In attendance were Kelly Park Elementary School, Compton; Valor Christian Academy, Redondo Beach; and Holy Name of Jesus School, South Los Angeles. The event was sponsored by Avalon Carver, the Fly Compton Foundation, Mobile STEM Labs, the Southern California Junior Cricket Academy, Air Oshinuga, and GenAI Bot.
Greg Hill, a math and science teacher who works with SciFly and Avalon Carver’s Mobile STEM Lab, designed curriculum to generate interest in aviation and avionics and helped create Next Up’s mobile aviation classroom, which houses 11 flight simulators running the X-Plane 11 program. At the front of the classroom is a main flight simulator that mimics a Cessna 172 instrument panel.
“The vision was Dante’s, but we helped construct it,” said Hill. “My ambition is to create astronauts – most astronauts start off as pilots.”
Lina Forbes-Hill, a 4th grader at Valor Christian Academy, wants to become a chemical engineer. She enjoyed the exhibits, particularly the flight simulation.
“It was fun, and it felt like it (sic) was actually going to fly,” she said.
Reggie Morehead, a 6th grade teacher at Kelly Elementary School, said that the event created “an outstanding experience” for his students and colleagues.
“It [makes] the connection to what we’re talking about in the classroom and real-life situations,” he said.
Charisse James, STEM AVSED Western Pacific Regional Program Analyst for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and two FAA outreach volunteers, spoke about the variety of careers on the ground, including engineering, building services, and even designing the interiors of airplanes.
“When we were younger, we would just [think of a] pilot or flight attendant,” said James. “These children need to know of all the opportunities that are out there for them.”
Dave Phillips has been an aircraft technician with United Airlines and previously, with Continental before the airlines merged, for 37 years. He informed students about the trainings and certifications necessary for aviation and avionics careers. Phillips said that longevity in any job is, “… more than just the money. You’ve got to like getting up coming to work, year after year.
Phillips noted the great need for qualified professionals in aviation, despite the current moves toward automation in transportation.
“Nobody wants to be in a plane that doesn’t have a pilot on it,” he said. “When it comes to an emergency, you still need a human being.”
Proving it’s never too late, Hill looks forward to earning his own pilot’s license.
“I’m an aspiring pilot, that’s my goal now,” he said. “I’m going to fly and it’s going to change the whole trajectory of our family.”
Kendrick emphasizes the endless opportunities for students in aviation, including fields such as cinematography, drone operation, real estate, search and rescue, and even working for UPS.
“These opportunities are unique,” he said. “It is important for our students to know that there is interest out there and there are opportunities. We want [them] to know it’s possible.”