Julianne Jones

I have always done things just a little differently. It isn’t common to have a young woman enter the male dominated world of aviation, it is even more unusual for a young woman to pursue the niche of aviation wildland firefighting. In this pursuit, I feel a strange kinship for the salmon that are driven by an internal compass to swim great distances against the current. I, too, have a long "swim" ahead of me to arrive at my goal and this scholarship award will help by paying for flight fees for advanced aviation training at Utah State University. I will merge my passion for flight and our wild outdoor spaces by flying for the US Forest Service to help combat wildfires. I would love to serve in eastern Oregon to help manage and protect the forests in my own backyard (the Umatilla, Wallowa-Whitman, Ochoco, and Malheur National Forests) where I have spent countless hours camping with my dad.