The Yoff airport project is a student made activity in which school children are brought to the airport in order to be taught about planes, as well as what it is like being a pilot. A group of ISD students discussed with the “École Élémentaire Mamadou Diagne” and decided that every other Wednesday for 6 weeks, a group of four ISD students will take around 15 kids to the airport. The students rotate in stations between the tarmac, where they have the chance to talk with a mechanic about how a plane functions, all the while being able to sit within the aircraft and feel what a pilot would in the cockpit. The other station is an aircraft simulator where the school children have the chance to fly a plane using a computer program. At the final station, the children are provided snacks, while given the opportunity to ask ISD student/pilot Oumar Mbaye questions about the planes, airport, and being a pilot.
The goal of this project is to help expose the children to a different environment and career path which they may not have had the chance to understand or even know that it is possible to pursue. On a larger scale, this project hopes to inspire the kids, making them more ambitious about their dreams and goals.
