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8 Scholarships were awarded totaling $12,000! The endowment fund is now worth $72,000 and will continue to give away scholarships year after year.

2009 Scholarship Winners

(L-R) Daniel Harrington, Christopher Watson, Marc Chyba, Christoper Fischer, Mike, Bradley Mertes, Trevor Sipe, Ryan Buttney and Shannon Roth

Trevor Sipe received a $4,000 scholarship

(Email from Trevor):
Mike,
I can not thank you enough for the amount of help you have given me these past couple of years. Every year you give aspiring pilots in our program the help and inspiration to keep going especially in these hard times. I have recently completed my CFI training and can't wait to start passing my love of aviation on to others like you have done. With this scholarship I will be able to start working towards my multi rating, without your generosity I don't think I could have come up with the money. Once again I would like to say thank you.

Sincerely,

Trevor Sipe

Bradley Mertes received a $2,000 scholarship

(Email from Bradley):
Mike,
Again, thank you very much for selecting me as an AviationInterviews.com scholarship award recipient this year. Your mantra of "pay it forward" is an excellent outlook on life and I look forward to doing all that I can in the future to help others as well. Not only have you been able to create a successful website while pursuing your career goal of being a commercial pilot, you also remember what it was like to work your way up from the bottom. Your continued support of flight students at SIUC is inspiring and we all look forward to seeing you next year.

Sincerely,
Bradley Mertes

Christopher Watson received a $1,000 scholarship

(Email from Christopher):
Dear Mike,
I cannot thank you enough for choosing me as one of the recipients of your scholarship this year. I am genuinely honored to have even been considered for this opportunity. You have single-handedly helped thousands of people pursue their dreams of becoming a pilot. I hope that one day I am able to give back to the university and aviation industry like you have. You are truly an inspiration for us all.

Sincerely,
Christopher Watson

Ryan Buttney received a $1,000 scholarship

(Email from Ryan):
Dear Mike,
I am extremely honored to be chosen as one of your 2009 scholarship recipients. Your contribution is greatly appreciated and I have you to thank for helping me achieve my instrument rating. I also want to credit you for helping so many of my fellow flight students. It is nice to see, given the current financial circumstances, that a person like you will go out of your way to help others. Once again Mike, I thank you and your mother for choosing me as one of your aviationinterviews.com 2009 scholarship winners.

Sincerely,
Ryan Buttney

Shannon Roth received a $1,000 scholarship

(Email from Shannon):
Dear Mike and Mom,
Thank you for supporting my aviation flight training at Southern Illinois University. Without the Aviationinterviews.com Aviation Scholarship, I would not have been able to fund or complete my CFI training. Now I will be able to further my flight training and obtain my Bachelor's degree in Aviation Management this May. Thank you for your continuous support of the students in the SIU Flight Training Program!

Sincerely,
Shannon Roth

Christoper Fischer received a $1,000 scholarship

(Email from Christopher):
Dear Mike,
I can not thank you and your family enough for choosing me as one of your scholarship recipients. I am extremely fortunate to have been selected as one of the students awarded this year. This scholarship will help aid in my costs next semester when I begin training for my Commercial Flight Certificate. The Aviation Flight Program here at SIUC is truly blessed to have a wonderful giving alumnus such as yourself. I hope someday I will be able to follow in your footsteps and give back to young pilots in training. Once again, Thank you.

Sincerely,
Christopher Fischer

Daniel Harrington received a $1,000 scholarship

(Email from Daniel):
Mike,
I am extremely fortunate to receive this scholarship for my flight training. Thank you very much. It is a costly process, but this scholarship will be a great help. Learning to fly is what I have always wanted to do, and this scholarship will help me continue that goal. I am deeply grateful for your generosity and continued support of SIU Aviation. It is a great thing that you do. Thanks again from me and from all the other students whom you have helped, as we follow our dreams into the sky.

Daniel Harrington

Marc Chyba received a $1,000 scholarship

(Email from Marc):
Dear Mike,
I'm writing to thank you for the generous gift that you awarded to me in the AviationInterviews.com Scholarship. With this scholarship I will be able to finish earning my multi-engine rating and without your support, this would not have been possible. The amount of scholarships you awarded this year shows the great success aviationinterviews.com has and still continues today even in this tough economic time. When I applied for this scholarship two years ago and did not receive it, I was discouraged. This however did not keep me down and I kept trying to further my career through assistance from businesses like your own. Getting this scholarship proved to me that no matter how improbable any goal looks, hard work and persistence pays off. There are always opportunities available such as this one. No goal is out of reach and AviationInterviews.com proves this everyday. Once again thank you from not only me but my entire family for the AviationInterviews.com scholarship.

Sincerely,
Marc Chyba