Daily Advance - February 7, 2011
Presidential Pilot lifts Pupils
Howe Encourages Plenty of Studying

Any well wisher can tell an auditorium full of students to dream big.  But when that sentiment comes from one of President Obama’s elite pilots, the message takes on a new kind of weight.  Capt. Justin Howe told the mix of Albemarle students who’d gathered in Elizabeth City State University’s Fine Arts Center auditorium?

Friday a little bit about being a Marine One pilot, and a lot about the hard work and studying it took to get him there. Howe was quick to tell the group of mostly middle-schoolers that he’d always been a pretty average kid.  He was never quite big enough to play football, and it took him a while to learn the importance of academics.

He grew up in what he called a normal home, with a normal family, in Chesapeake, Va.  What set him apart was a goal.
When I was seven years old, my uncle took me up flying for the first time,” Howe said.  “Once we got out of that air-plane, since I was seven, that’s all I wanted to do was fly.

Howe never managed to lose sight of that dream.  Toward the end of middle school, he started studying harder a habit he has yet to lose.

“I want to be the best at what I do,” Howe said.  “Because when the President wanted him to rest assured that he has one of the best pilots in the world doing this job.  That he’s in safe hands.”

Howe’s job hasn’t come easily, but he has had little incentives along the way. Those incentives kept him on the path to become a pilot.

When he joined the track team during his freshman year at Deep Creek High School, Howe was struck by a photo that his coach held dear.

On his track coach’s office wall, hung a picture of a man sitting in front of an aircraft. 

Howe told the students that at the students that at the moment, he knew that someday he’d by sending his former coach a photo of himself in that exact same position.

Years later; he did.

“That’s the picture I sent my coach,” Howe said, gesturing to a photo that filled up the screen behind him.  “It was in his same shot I saw in his office when I was a freshman.  That’s me right before my first solo flight down in New Mexico.”

The purpose of Howe’s remarks was brought to light by ECSU Chancellor Willie Gilchrist, who told the students that if they studied hard, they could have careers just like Howe’s. 

“If Justin can do it, so can you,” Gilchrist said. 

Howe’s speech capped off Elizabeth City State University’s annual Research Week, during which students and staff highlight the university’s academic work.