NEW CENTURY, Kan. — Local high school students are taking their education to new heights.

To celebrate Women of Aviation Week, Garmin, introduced dozens of girls to flying.

“Up there it’s so calm and you kind of get away from all the noise,” Lead Transportation Pilot & Safety Coordinator Jessica Koss said.

It’s like second nature for Koss.

“I’ve been a pilot since I was 17,” Koss said.

According to Pilot Institute, only 9% of pilots are women.

But Koss and Garmin, a company that creates technology in the cockpit, are hoping to change that narrative by introducing girls to aviation.

“I’m representing women in a male dominated field in front of these highs schoolgirls,” Koss said. “It makes me feel really good and proud of what I do.”

“Women in stem, women in aviation that’s very exciting,” student Adithi Praveen said. “It’s a smaller airplane than what I’m use to going on, so being up close to the ground to see the views and to have that feeling that you don’t get often with other strangers on the plane is really an experience.”

Students got a tour of the hangar and planes and saw how it was done from the sky.

“Just go for it and don’t shy away from what you wanna do and pursue your dreams,” Koss said.

The company said it paused the aviation tours because of COVID-19 and brought them back this year with a record breaking turnout of 62 girls.