Meet Scholarship Recipient Denise Whitford
by Sydney Burns, Marketing and Communications Associate
Meet Denise Whitford????✈️????
She’s a mother, an Associate Professor at Purdue University, and working towards becoming a professional pilot.
Denise is a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) and an Advanced Ground Instructor (AGI), Instrument Ground Instructor (IGI), and a UAS pilot. She’s currently working on her CFII rating at Purdue Aviation and plans to continue on with her Multi engine rating after that.
Denise is also a member of Sisters of The Skies, an organization comprised of professional black women pilots who aim to increase the number of black women in the professional pilot career field through sisterhood scholarship, mentorship, and outreach.
Recently, Ameriflight sponsored a scholarship with Sisters of The Skies and Denise was chosen as the recipient!
Congrats, Denise! ????
When I was younger, I thought being a pilot would be exciting. I learned that it is much more than that. If there is a word more powerful than exhilarating, that is what I would describe what flying has come to mean for me. I want to be a professional airline pilot because it must be an amazing way to spend your working hours; a career with challenges that is well worth the time and dedication to get there. I also want young women and girls of color to see people like themselves in positions that were once out of reach.
I’m excited to begin work on my multi-engine rating with the support of Ameriflight.” – Denise
1.8.2021