Indiana State University Newsroom

An airline advocacy organization has awarded a national scholarship to an Indiana State University student.

The Regional Airline Association selected ISU senior Clint Hill, a professional aviation flight technology and aviation management major from Columbus, to receive a $2,000 scholarship. Hill is one of only three students to receive scholarships this year from the association, which advocates for North American regional airlines, along with product manufacturers and service providers supporting the regional airline industry. The scholarship was competitive and open to collegiate pilots throughout the nation, said Troy Allen, assistant dean of the ISU College of Graduate and Professional Studies and associate professor in the aviation department.

"Certainly the financial award will help him, and then being able to put this on his résumé, that among all the applicants he was selected to receive this award," Allen said. "It validates all of his accomplishments."

Hill applied for the scholarship this spring, and he learned in early May that he had received the award. He initially thought that the notification window had passed, then learned about it shortly before he moved to Dallas for a summer internship with American Airlines.

"It does [help] me a lot, because it's exactly what I want to do coming out of college," Hill said of the scholarship. "I want to be a pilot for a regional airline and eventually work my way up to a major airline."

Hill, who has served as president of the Indiana State chapter of the American Association of Airport Executives, first learned about piloting when his uncle first took him flying when he was just a child.

"As soon as he took me up, I knew right then and there I wanted to be a pilot for the rest of my life ... and pretty much never lost sight of that," he said.

Hill is an outstanding student, and also keeps busy with a variety of projects and initiatives outside of the classroom as well, said Allen, who wrote a letter of recommendation to the Regional Airlines Association recommending Hill for the scholarship.

"All of those efforts certainly helped him in getting this scholarship," Allen said. "I'm sure when they weighed the applications, they looked at all of this and saw what others also saw, which is great promise and a hardworking student in Clint."

Hill is one of two Indiana State students currently interning with American Airlines. While he is an aspiring pilot, his internship is focused more on the business side of the airline's operations.

"It's been awesome so far," Hill said. "It's definitely been beneficial already, in the contacts I've met and it shows you all aspects of what goes into the airline industry, rather than just the pilots flying."

Photo: http://isuphoto.smugmug.com/photos/i-mwVSwkX/0/L/i-mwVSwkX-L.jpg (Submitted photo)Clint Hill

Contact: Troy Allen, assistant dean of College of Graduate and Professional Studies and associate professor in aviation department, 812-237-2660 or troy.allen@indstate.edu

Writer: Austin Arceo, assistant director of media relations, Office of Communications and Marketing, Indiana State University, 812-237-3790 or austin.arceo-negrich@indstate.edu