NEWS RELEASE

Communications and Marketing Office
600 S. Clyde Morris Blvd.
Daytona Beach, FL 32114-3900

For more information, contact:
Phone: 386-226-6157
Fax: 386-226-6158
Contact: Mary Van Buren
Phone: 386-226-6525

Embry-Riddle Plans Women in Aviation Day Program

Daytona Beach, Fla., March 10, 2006 -- More than 400 female middle-school students from Volusia County will learn about aviation and aerospace at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University during the annual Women in Aviation Day program to be held Thursday, March 30.

The girls, along with school counselors, will participate in activities designed to educate and motivate them to pursue careers in aviation and aerospace.

The event begins at 9:30 a.m. in the university’s ICI Center at 600 S. Clyde Morris Blvd. with an activities fair where the students can take part in navigation exercises and in airplane, flight, and robotics simulations. Generous prizes for all participants will be provided by Bath Junkie, Pepsi, Shores Resort and Spa, and the following restaurants: Adobe Gila’s, Dancing Avocado Kitchen, Maria Bonita, and Panera Bread.

Also during Women in Aviation Day, the visiting students will tour the Embry-Riddle campus and learn about career opportunities in aviation and aerospace fields like air traffic control, engineering, flight, maintenance, and meteorology. Embry-Riddle students and volunteers will conduct the tours and will lead hands-on, make-and-take activities.

The guest speaker for the event will be Amy Laboda, editor in chief of Aviation for Women magazine and owner of two aircraft. Laboda started flying at 15, soloed at 16, and earned her private pilot certificate at 17. After graduating with a liberal arts degree from Sarah Lawrence College, she served in the Peace Corps as a health educator. Holding multiple ratings in several areas of aviation, Laboda has taught flight students, towed gliders, flown ultralights, and dabbled in aerobatics and skydiving. A company she founded, Marketing Arts, provides freelance articles for magazines such as Flight Training and AOPA Pilot as well as marketing consultancy services.

The day will end with the announcement of the results of the Women in Aviation/Aerospace Essay Competition. The first-place winner, chosen from nearly 100 entrants, will receive free enrollment in the Flight Exploration Camp operated by Embry-Riddle’s Summer Academy, worth nearly $1,000. The second-place and third-place entrants will receive prize packages from the Embry-Riddle Bookstore and from local businesses such as the Daytona Lagoon water park and the Daytona Beach Thunder arena football team.

Support for the event is provided by Embry-Riddle’s Admissions Office. For more information, contact Amy Fugere at (386) 226-6113 or amy.fugere@erau.edu or James Wasilewski at (386) 226-6104 or james.wasilewski@erau.edu.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering. Embry-Riddle educates more than 32,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through the Extended Campus at more than 130 centers in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East, and through distance learning.