Meet Jerome Stanislaus

Stanislaus is a former elementary school teacher, former sergeant and satellite operator for the U.S. Marine Corps, and is currently serving in the U.S. Air Force Reserve training to be a flight engineer on a Lockheed C–5 Galaxy. He enjoys skydiving and has written an aviation-themed children’s book called My Mom Is So Fly.

“Before I was on active orders for the Air Force, I was an elementary school teacher at an all-girls charter school in Brooklyn. I spent most of my days surrounded by kindergarten through fourth-grade students. I would ask them what they wanted to be when they grew up, and there was an overwhelming number of girls who wanted to be police officers, firefighters, beauticians, et cetera. Although these careers are important, I thought there should be some diversity in their answers. But I realized these were the only types of professions that they knew about—it was what seemed realistic. The book was my way of helping introduce otherwise unrealistic career paths to my students,” he said.

Stanislaus received viral news coverage last year about giving free discovery flights to children—often from minority and underprivileged backgrounds. He’s currently stationed at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, Massachusetts.

“One of my dad’s favorite stories was about a family vacation to St. Lucia. I was 3 years old, and as the plane began to lift off the ground, I yelled, “Wow, this is magnificent,” and the surrounding passengers turned to see who this toddler was using the word ‘magnificent.’”

Stanislaus says his goal to be in a position to help “as many people as I can on their journey to fulfill their aviation-related goals. I’d like to buy an airplane, get my CFI/CFII ratings, and start a flight school. I’d also like to be able to sponsor young student pilots that are looking to get into aviation. I’d like to help them earn their private pilot license for free or as close to free as possible.”

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