A Great Start to Senior Year

Posted on September 1, 2020 by Bria

by Bria Booth

Hello everyone! Summer has finally ended. This year, I felt so ready to get back into classes. It’s been about six months since I’ve been able to see friends and learn in a classroom. I moved back to Prescott two weeks ago to celebrate my friend Vee’s birthday.

Our freshman year, Vee and I lived in the same dorm! We met on the “Schools App” a few months before move-in and got to know each other. Though we don’t live together anymore, she’s become one of my closest friends. The people that I met my freshman year are all so important to me. We’ve grown and faced challenges together. Our friend Grace falls into that same category. She was a part of my orientation group, and we ended up getting along really well. Grace and Vee have been my family while away from home. We all made sure to socially distance before seeing each other in person. We’ve been keeping to pretty small social circles during the summer, so it was nice to be able to hang out with friends.

Myself, Vee, and Grace at Dutch Bros. coffee before the pandemic.
At Alphi Xi Delta’s 2019 formal. Grace is part of the sorority with me, and Vee was one of our guests.

To celebrate Vee’s birthday, we visited Grace’s parents in Tubac. We spent a few relaxing days there swimming, looking after newly acquired plants, and making pizza. When we got back to Prescott, Vee planned a socially distanced birthday outing with a larger group of friends. We all brought blankets and masks and shared stories from summer.

Shopping at The Plant Stand of Arizona in Phoenix on our way to Tubac.
Making pizza while visiting Grace’s family in Tubac.

Classes are quite a bit different than last year. About half the time, I meet with my class online, and when classes are in-person, we sit at every other chair. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t going to be an odd semester, but I’m really looking forward to my classes. So far, I’m the most excited about my Capstone. Yesterday we were assigned our groups and projects. I’ll be working on Attitude Reaction Wheels. Our group is picking up where a capstone team from last year left off.

At Embry-Riddle in Prescott, an Engineers Capstone project takes two semesters. The first is focused on Preliminary Design and the second is Detail Design. The goal is to have a prototype built by the end of our senior year. It’s still hard for me to believe that I’ve started work on the biggest project of my four years at Embry-Riddle.

Over the last week, I’ve had so many people reach out about my first blog post! I’m happy to see that so many people seem to be excited about it. I’m looking forward to sharing my experiences on campus, but I’d also love to hear from you about what you’d like to hear about. Feel free to comment on this blog post with subjects you’d like me to write about!

Top Outdoor Spots on Campus

Posted on August 13, 2020 by Richard

by Richard Santi

The Embry-Riddle Prescott Campus is covered with absolutely beautiful scenery. What’s even better is the fact that we get over 300 days of beautiful weather in Prescott. On any given day, students love to sit outside and socialize, do homework, or merely sit and enjoy the outdoors. There are a number of awesome spots on campus that provide nice outdoor spots to sit and enjoy the day. Here are some of my favorites:

The Quad

One of the awesome parts about going to school here is that we have Wi-Fi coverage on pretty much the whole campus. If you want to do work on the grass or by the benches that are perfectly sun protected with awnings, you absolutely can! Though most people like to use the quad to throw the frisbee around or host some other recreational event when the weather is nice (which is pretty much all the time).

Center of Campus

We have a beautiful green space right in the center of a number of classrooms. A lot of students will hang out and socialize here until the next class starts. The large trees nearby make for great shade! There are a number of campus services located nearby, including the Cashier’s Office, Mailroom, Campus Safety, and our barbershop on campus known as the Hairport!

The Patio

Right outside of our STEM Education Center, we have a beautiful new patio that is great for hanging out with friends and waiting for the next class to start. It is covered with beautiful trees and has nice new benches that face each other so that you and your friends can interact!

Outside of AXFAB

Our Aerospace Experimentation and Fabrication Building is used by our Aerospace Engineers to complete their capstone projects. On the outside of the building, we have a large propeller which comes from a Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter. It was one of four propellers mounted at the same height it would be on the actual aircraft. It makes a pretty stunning sight to sit at one of the benches outside looking right up to it.

Patio Outside Student Union

Underneath the Embry-Riddle colored awnings outside of the Jack R. Hunt Student Union, we have an awesome patio area that is used by a lot of different student groups and organizations to host events. It is also a great place to eat lunch after going to our World of Wings Cafe or our Rocket Deli & Salads, both located right inside of our Student Union!

Spread Your Wings at Embry-Riddle

Posted on May 21, 2020 by Richard

by Richard Santi

Hi Everyone! My name is Richard Santi and I am currently a Senior at Embry-Riddle in Prescott. I am majoring in Aeronautical Science – Fixed Wing, with a minor in Business Administration. On campus, I am a member of our national championship winning Golden Eagles Flight Team, and work as a Senior Campus Ambassador at our Admissions Office (If you come and visit campus, I might be your tour guide)!

I am incredibly excited to be sharing a bit about my experience at Embry-Riddle with all of you, and will be writing to you regularly, so be sure to check back! I wanted to start off by introducing myself a bit more and sharing with you my journey to Embry-Riddle. I am originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up in the Chicago area. From a young age, my eyes were always turned skyward, and I could only dream of one day working in the cockpit of an airplane. When I was looking at colleges that had aviation programs, only one stood out to me as the very best. I asked different people who were in the aviation business what school they suggested, and the answer was almost unanimous. “Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.” Without a doubt.

I have always been a Midwesterner. Most of the landscapes I was used to were farms and skyscrapers. But after all, college is a time for adventure and I was very excited to see a new place for a few years, moving to the beautiful mountains of Arizona. I moved to Prescott in the summer of 2017. I only had about 4 flight hours in my logbook; virtually nothing. No real flight training or formal flight education. Despite this, I flew my very first week here. The first lesson was incredibly simple. How to turn the aircraft left and right using proper rudder coordination. I remember feeling very comfortable, knowing this is what I was meant to do, but I also remember the feeling that I had a long way to go.

As it turns out, a long way is not so long when you are training at Embry-Riddle. Three more years of flight training and now I am a licensed Commercial Pilot. I have over 270 hours of flight time and have flown in collegiate flying competitions. I have a job offer from a major regional airline and plan on starting flight instructor training soon. I have learned about topics I knew pretty much nothing about before coming to college. Extensive details of aircraft systems, how the stability of the atmosphere affects thunderstorms, the detailed aerodynamics of a tailspin… All topics I had literally zero understanding of prior to coming to Embry-Riddle. All of this was done while simultaneously earning a college degree.

The reason I am mentioning all of this is that I wanted to let you all know that as I post my future blogs, I will be explaining in detail all of my cool experiences at Embry-Riddle, whether it is going through flight training, being on the flight team, or hanging out with friends and enjoying all of the awesome scenery that Prescott has to offer. But really, the main point I would like you to take away from my experience is that whatever you do here, you will learn way more than you thought possible. You will gain way more skills than you thought possible, and you will become someone ready to succeed in whatever field you go into. You will do all of it while having a blast!

I look forward to sharing more with you!

Springtime at ERAU!

Posted on April 4, 2016 by #ERAUPrescott

Spring is in full bloom here at Embry-Riddle Prescott! Even though we’re still seeing a little bit of rain, overcast skies, and even some sleet, springtime is definitely here. With Preview Day just passed and Parent’s Weekend right around the corner, vibrant colors and (mostly) sunny days couldn’t have come at a better time! Here’s an inside look at our campus in full motion during the start of spring.

Earhart’s Dining Hall

Hall 5 of the Mingus Complex, and our dining hall (a bit blocked behind the tree)

Waiting for the annual Easter egg hunt to begin! (Outside of the Student Union, in the quad)

Walking out of the dining hall, with a slight view of the AXFAB, or Aerospace Experimentation and Fabrication Building (our central engineering building on campus)

The Entrance to our AXFAB engineering building

Some sidewalk art our sororities and fraternities created outside of the Student Union!

And lastly, the Hazy Library and student quad…

Living Off Campus

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Adam

One topic that may strike your interest as an incoming freshmen is “What is it like to live off campus?” You might wonder what are the pros and cons? Well I’ve got some good news for you! Today I will go a bit into the differences of living on and off campus.

To start off if you don’t already know, freshmen at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University are required to live on campus their freshmen year. Although, there are some exceptions for those that are unable to live on campus or if you are local. You may call admissions 928-777-6600 or check out the website for more information on that. http://prescott.erau.edu/admissions/

Living off campus is a BIG step! You have to keep tabs on your bills and make sure you’re roommates are all in and responsible!

So now to the fun part, as I currently live off campus I have a bit of insight to share. The best thing about living off campus in my opinion is the home feeling you get. Every morning you wake up in your own bed and have breakfast in your kitchen. You have your own room again!

Now for the cons. Sometimes you may be forgetful, leading me into my biggest problem. If you live 15 to 20 min. away from the school then chances are you don’t want to waste time or money on gas driving back because you forgot something very important. Well by living on campus you can completely eliminate this problem because it takes maybe 5 – 10 min. to walk to your room and back to class.

Of course the big decision is yours to make after your Freshman year. I know some prefer the convenience of living on campus but some like myself are willing to give up convenience for my own apartment.