BOZEMAN - Gallatin College will be offering two new programs to their students, Healthcare Administrative Professional and Aviation Electronics Technology program, partnering with Bridger Aerospace for a hands on component to the course.
Designed in less than a year, Director Elizabeth Nooman notes that programs are often created when a need is seen in the community.
“We have no specific avionics training in this state, or in the general region,” Nooman said, “We have the airport with lots of single-engine planes, and so there is definitely a need, people need to be able to fix their planes!”
Nooman explains that there are three ways to fix a plane: the body, the engine, and the avionics of the plane. Avionics is the electronics and technology piece of the plane. Underneath the floor of a plane, a network of wires and boxes which connect to the screens and tools in the cockpit will soon become the classroom for students.
Bridger Aerospaces’ Avionics Manager, Justin Satkofsky thinks this is an extremely important program and will help aviation companies across the state to pick from a group of locally trained professionals—instead of relying on out-of-state help.
“We’ll have the talent right here,” Satkofsky says, “Give it a shot, if you’re an attention-to detail-oriented person, and you take pride in your work and if you’d like to go home and think ‘hey I made a difference today’, then this is the spot for you.”
Satkofsky will play a major part in the class, leading the lab sections at Bridger Aerospace.
Healthcare Administration is also a program that will begin in Fall 2022. DeeDee Dalke is the Allied Health Division Director at Gallatin College and shares how important it is to bring a program, like Healthcare Administration, to their students.
“Getting out of the pandemic, there’s a lot of burnout, a lot of change,“ Dalke said, ”We are trying to help with that and fill some of that gap.”
Students have already shown interest in the courses, which will begin holding classes in the fall.
