WisDOT program provides paid aviation internships for MPS students

MILWAUKEE -- Guiding planes off the runway isn't your typical high school summer job. Each year, the Aviation Careers Education (ACE) program recruits 35 students from the Milwaukee Public School District for the experience of a life-time!

"This is what I really want to do. I`m already around planes. It just gives me hope for my future I guess," ACE program student Pablo Diaz said.

For eight weeks during the summer, students get to participate in a paid internship working in one of a variety of roles in the field of aviation.

"We have students that refuel everyday. We have a student that`s in the IT area, so he`s working on the networking for the county. The badging office does finger printing and security checks -- that type of thing," ACE Program Coordinator Jack Lake said.

This program is also geared toward giving opportunities to lower-income students.

"All of our students need to have a 2.0 GPA or better, which a lot of them have over a 3.0. They all have to be disadvantaged in some way, so we look at reduced and free lunch," Lake said.

All of the students get a mentor to properly train them for their position, as they all have very big responsibilities.

"It`s just a really great experience and it makes you feel really important in life that someone can trust you with all of that," ACE program student Ana Diaz said.

CLICK HERE for additional information about the ACE program.