Four Hamilton/ACP High School Air Force Junior ROTC cadets were recently selected for the Air Force Chief of Staff Private Pilot Scholarship Program. Hamilton High School juniors, Cooper Morgan, Michael Shin, and Paris Thompson and ACP High School junior, Liam McMaster were identified in the December 2022 announcement from Headquarters Air Force JROTC. The program, also known as the "AFJROTC Flight Academy," is an Air Force initiative in collaboration with the commercial aviation industry to address a national pilot shortage.

This highly competitive scholarship, valued at over $22,500, is an all-expense-paid flight training and college-course credit program conducted during the summer at 25 select partner universities across the country. 200 AFJROTC cadets were competitively selected from a pool of 100,000+ cadets attending 850 high schools across the country and at Department of Defense installations worldwide. 15 of the 200 worldwide selects are from Arizona high schools.

These four high-achieving cadets will receive comprehensive, FAA-certified ground instruction and over 50 hours of flight instruction, giving each student the opportunity to earn an FAA Private Pilot Certificate (private pilot license), with no commitment to military service required or implied.

Cadets from the Hamilton/ACP AFJROTC program have made it through the rigorous selection process every year since the AFJROTC Flight Academy's inception in 2017. Last year, Hamilton student Dylan Franklin was selected and completed the extremely demanding program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott.