STEP Reflection

1. Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project. Write two or three sentences describing the main activities your STEP Signature Project entailed. 

In my STEP signature project, I worked to get my recreational pilot’s license. For this, I took ground school lessons and flight lessons with an instructor during summer 2019, and got the required solo hours and took the license exam during summer 2020.

2. What about your understanding of yourself, your assumptions, or your view of the world changed/transformed while completing your STEP Signature Project? Write one or two paragraphs to describe the change or transformation that took place. 

During the completion of my STEP signature project, I learned a great deal about myself and my abilities. Most of all, I gained a new level of confidence in myself. At the airfield where I learned to fly, you are taught to fly without high-tech equipment in basic stick-and-rudder aircraft. At first, this is quite scary! But after a few lessons, I became more confident in my ability to fly and control the aircraft. The confidence required to fly an aircraft can easily be translated to the confidence needed to be a good leader. Good leaders need to have confidence in themselves before others can have confidence in them. This makes the confidence I gained in learning to pilot aircrafts quite valuable to me in future leadership positions. 

My STEP signature project also transformed how I view the field of atmospheric sciences, which I am majoring in. I got the chance to see the direct impacts of weather forecasts and how pilots used them to plan flights. I also learned just how important forecasting is as pilots depend on accurate and timely forecasts in order to have safe flights. The greater understanding of the applications of forecasting I gained from getting my pilot’s license will allow me to become a better scientist by giving me unique insight that other scientists in my field don’t always have. My STEP project has not only allowed me to become a better scientist, but also more confident in my abilities as a leader. 

3. What events, interactions, relationships, or activities during your STEP Signature Project led to the change/transformation that you discussed in #2, and how did those affect you? Write three or four paragraphs describing the key aspects of your experiences completing your STEP Signature Project that led to this change/transformation. 

The relationships that I gained with the pilots and instructors at the airport really helped me to learn about the importance and necessity of accurate weather forecasting in the field of aviation. Many of the pilots that I met were excited to learn that I was majoring in atmospheric sciences as they had a lot to say (both positive and negative) about forecasting and weather maps. Some pilots explained to me that weather maps are often difficult to interpret and expressed that they wished that maps could be more user friendly. These comments and concerns impacted me as they gave me motivation and inspiration to make a change in my field for the better. Before completing my STEP project, I was unaware that non-scientists used many of the high-level maps that I would learn about in class. I am now motivated to potentially develop more understandable maps that still portray complex information. 

The relationship that I developed with my instructor, Steve Richards, was also transformative to me. He helped to cultivate my newfound confidence in myself. Steve was not only a great mentor to me but also a huge supporter of getting more women involved in aviation. His passion definitely spilled over onto me and allowed me to realize how important it is to be surrounded by diverse people in all aspects of life. Being a woman in a male-dominated field can definitely be intimidating and having a mentor that recognized this and made sure to be supportive of my concerns was incredible. Steve boosted my confidence in myself and gave me valuable mentorship skills that I will be able to utilize later in my career. 

Although all aspects of flying allowed me to be more confident in myself, one specific training exercise stood out in my mind as exponentially increasing my confidence. In this exercise, the pilot brings the aircraft to a stall which causes it to drop significantly. The objective of this exercise is to not freak out when the plane drops and remain in control of the aircraft. The first time I did this, I definitely freaked out and my instructor had to take the controls. This caused me to have some doubts in my piloting abilities. But, after doing the exercise many other times, I began to gain my confidence back. This taught me about not letting one bad experience throw me off track from achieving my goals. I also learned the importance of putting myself in uncomfortable situations in order to grow as a person. These are all skills and abilities that will translate to my future as a scientist and leader. 

4. Why is this change/transformation significant or valuable for your life? Write one or two paragraphs discussing why this change or development matters and/or relates to your academic, personal, and/or professional goals and future plans

The leadership skills and insight into the applications of my field will be valuable for my life and future in many ways. After graduating with my atmospheric sciences degree, I plan on working on weather forecasting somewhere such as the National Weather Service or the Weather Channel. Both of these organizations develop products for the public to use. Because I got to see how weather maps and forecasts are used in aviation, I gained insight that other scientists working at these organizations won’t have. Not only will I be more valuable to my employer, but I will also be able to work to create weather products and forecasts that will be more useful to pilots and the field of aviation in general. 

The leadership skills that I gained through my STEP project will also be very valuable in my scientific career. Atmospheric sciences is a very group-oriented science. There are often large teams of scientists working together to achieve a goal. Eventually, I will be able to take on a leadership position in these groups. The process of getting my pilot’s license gave me greater confidence in myself that will be quite useful in a leadership position. I believe that if I can be confident enough to fly a plane, I can be confident enough to lead my fellow scientists. Without the confidence and leadership skills that I gained during my STEP project, I definitely wouldn’t be as effective of a leader as I am today.