Yellowknife (July 16/04) - Eight NWT students are $5,000 closer to their dreams of working in the aviation industry.

The Aviation Career Development Program held a reception last week to distribute its yearly bursaries. The ceremony marked the fourth year of the program, which has now handed out $160,000 to students in the North.

The event, which was held in the Aviation Gallery of the Northern Heritage Centre, was co-sponsored by the Department of Transportation and Canadian North, and supported by the Northern Air Transport Association.

The program was developed to help Northern students pursue careers in the aviation industry.

"It is also about getting people to return to the North (when their training is completed)," said Bob Kelly of the Department of Transportation.

One recipient was Yellowknife's Chad Blewett, 19, who is a student in the aviation program at Mount Royal College in Calgary.

The bursary will be a big help to him, he says, because his two-year program costs $60,000 for tuition and flying fees.

Blewett, whose father is a pilot with First Air, said he has been interested in flying since childhood.

Last year was his first opportunity to fly a plane himself.

"I like to be up there, being able to see everything below you," he said.

Blewett hopes to work in the North when his training is complete.

The other bursary prizes were awarded to Darrow Andrews, Samantha Merritt, Stacy Reid, Mark Simmons and Jeremy Studney, all of Yellowknife, and to Jason Cutten of Inuvik and Emsley Nasogaluak of Tuktoyaktuk.