Freddy Cordon has had dreams of being a pilot from the age of 10. Every Sunday at church, he would see the same elderly gentleman who, at first, taught him to make paper airplanes and eventually gifted him with books about World War II fighter planes. It was during this formative time in Freddy’s life that he thought he’d someday fly, and it was through the help of PSP that he realized his dream of going away to aviation school in Dubuque, Iowa.

“I went to the information session at lunch, I really wanted to get into the program,” says Freddy recalling his introduction the program. “I had my sister’s help with the essay that I had to write, I turned it in, and got an interview. It’s still to this day one of the scariest things I ever did.” Upon entry into PSP in the 7^th grade at Kranz Middle School, Freddy was paired up with his mentor, Ray Andry and two other scholars, David and Elvin. The four spent the next six years together, going on adventures and preparing for the next big chapter: College. “Mr. Andry from the very beginning encouraged us to look at private universities,” says Freddy. “He encouraged us to go out of state – leave home for a while, be independent. So I took that advice from him.”

Freddy looked at the possibility of several schools that offered engineering programs, but in his heart, he knew he wanted to really focus on becoming a pilot. “In my mind going out of state wasn’t the first choice to me,” says Freddy. “But, I felt more comfortable being out of state because of the program, because I would travel out of state with the program for a week at a time. So, when I was looking at schools and I saw that [University of Dubuque] offered what I wanted – I went for.”

Now as he finishes his first semester in his program, Aviation: Flight Operations at the University of Dubuque, Freddy couldn’t be happier with his choice – nearly seven years ago when he turned in his PSP application and getting on a plane six months ago to start his college journey. “I felt like this was a time in my life – if I didn’t do it now, I wouldn’t do it,” says Freddy. “I haven’t regretted any of it. I’m getting prepared for the career that I want at this school. I feel like it was a really good decision of listening to my mentor and pursuing the university that I wanted to go to.”