Five Aviation Explorers have been awarded $22,000 as part of the 2006 National Aviation Explorer Scholarship program.

The National Aviation Exploring Committee awards individual scholarships between $3,000 and $10,000 annually to Aviation Explorers pursuing a career in the aviation industry. The intent of these scholarships is to identify and reward those individuals who best exemplify the qualities that lead to success in the aviation industry.

The 2006 scholarship categories and winners are:

• Degree Leading to an Aviation Profession, Charles Watson, Lebanon, Tennessee; $10,000
• Avionics, Autumn Turner, Fort Wayne, Indiana; $3,000
• Flight Training, Genesis Rivas, San Fernando Valley, California; $3,000
• Aircraft Maintenance, Daniel Gubernath, Bucyrus, Ohio; $3,000
• Aviation Management, Andrew Kocarnik, Lincoln, Nebraska; $3,000.

Applications for the 2007 scholarships are available at www.aviationexploring.org and must be submitted through a local council by March 31, 2007. Since national applications are not carried over to subsequent years, Aviation Explorers must submit a new application for 2007 for consideration next year.

Aviation Exploring, an affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America, is a youth development program open to young women and men between the ages of fourteen and twenty.

FMI: www.aviationexploring.org