“The scholarship event is always exciting because we meet so many talented young aviators who are eager to launch their careers,” said Danny Perna, founder and CEO of Epic Flight Academy. “We are proud to support and encourage them.”

The flight training company has operations in Texas, Arizona, Kentucky and several locations in Florida. The scholarships are geared toward flight training and aircraft mechanic training at Epic’s various campuses.

Qayla Bailey received $20,000 Captain Judy Rice Pilot Scholarship. Russell Shipley and Brayden Tucker each received $20,000 aircraft mechanic scholarships. Pilot scholarships of $5,000 each were awarded to Jack Carda, Wes Glaser, Casson Dennison, Anvita Kulkarni and Joseph Lavdas.

This year’s award recipients were chosen from a pool of 50 applications received from 14 states, the flight school said.

“Each year, our judges praise the high quality of applicants we receive, which makes their jobs harder,” said Cindy Lovell, Epic’s director of education. We congratulate each of these students and look forward to seeing them excel at Epic.”