{"id":2445987,"date":"2019-07-03T21:44:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-04T03:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/aspen-nonprofit-aims-to-inspire-students-to-fly\/"},"modified":"2019-07-05T07:50:14","modified_gmt":"2019-07-05T13:50:14","slug":"aspen-nonprofit-aims-to-inspire-students-to-fly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspen-nonprofit-aims-to-inspire-students-to-fly\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen nonprofit aims to inspire students to fly"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Suzanne Pfister browses through old archives that she calls the “Betty Boxes”, filled with memorabilia from her pilot mother, Betty Pfister. Suzanne has established the BettyFlies Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at providing aviation opportunities to local youth.<\/strong>
Jeremy Wallace\/The Aspen Times | Jeremy Wallace\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

A nonprofit bearing the name of Aspen\u2019s first lady of aviation and aimed at providing flying-related educational programs to area youth has taken off, but needs more than $200,000 to reach cruising altitude.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no lack of puns in this business,\u201d joked Suzanne Pfister, the daughter of the late Betty Haas Pfister and president of the BettyFlies Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Suzanne Pfister established the foundation in honor of her mother, who received the Congressional Gold Medal<\/a> as a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS) in World War II.<\/p>\n

The WASP program was focused on high achievement and assembled only the most exceptional women aviators in the country.<\/p>\n

To free up male pilots for combat roles, it was the WASPS\u2019 job to test, fix and shuttle aircraft around the country in often questionable conditions. More than 30 of them lost their lives.<\/p>\n

Suzanne Pfister is carrying her mother\u2019s legacy forward through the foundation, created only two months ago.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s on a trajectory to raise the necessary funding to help pay for an initiative at Aspen High School called \u201cEvery Student Flies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Debuting this fall, the program will give almost 600 students an opportunity to experience a \u201ccareer\u201d afternoon at the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll get two hours of flight instruction with a certified flight instructor. Also as part of the program, students will get tours of the FAA tower and the aviation operations at Sardy Field.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll learn about flight training, scholarships, collegiate-related programs and industry-related jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot every kid is set to be a pilot, but it\u2019s the personal development piece that I want for them,\u201d Pfister said, adding that STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education opportunities are equally as important.<\/p>\n

The BettyFlies Foundation plans to match funds \u2014 $100,000 \u2014 toward an existing program at the school district called the Aspen Higher Learning Flight Academy<\/a> in which between 30 and 60 students are exposed to aviation opportunities. It\u2019s funded through private donations.<\/p>\n

Now, through the BettyFlies Foundation, all students will have access to the academy\u2019s two Diamond DA40 aircraft.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I spark one kid, it will be worth the 12-hour days,\u201d Pfister said Wednesday morning at the foundation\u2019s small office in the basement of an old Victorian on Main Street.<\/p>\n

Pfister and the BettyFlies Foundation team are in full fundraising mode.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very important to me to raise this money because school starts in August,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The foundation also plans to put $120,000 toward flight school scholarships for 10 Aspen High School students who want to pursue piloting careers.<\/p>\n

The remaining $30,000 to be raised will support an aviation-related collegiate scholarship.<\/p>\n

Pfister was inspired after she was approached this past winter<\/a> with a suggestion that her mother be the namesake at a new airport terminal being planned.<\/p>\n

She soon learned that out of 80 local scholarships offered to Aspen students, none of them are aviation-related.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat pissed the Betty off in me,\u201d Pfister quipped with a smile.<\/p>\n

So she got to work enlisting volunteers, establishing a nonprofit and a board of directors, and is now launching the fundraising campaign.<\/p>\n

About $25,000 has been raised thus far with donations as small as $10.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery dollar counts and no amount is too small,\u201d Pfister said. \u201cI can\u2019t tell you how generous people have been.\u201d<\/p>\n

She sent 4,000 mailers out this week and a GoFundMe<\/a> page was set up Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Pfister is working the phones and emails to friends of Betty.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FOBs (friends of Betty\u2019s) are the keys to the kingdom for support,\u201d Pfister said. \u201cI\u2019ve also had a lot of support from people who love aviation and aviation history.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first annual BettyFlies Summer Social at the Aspen Historical Society\u2019s Wheeler Stallard House is being planned for 4 to 7 p.m. July 26. It will be a fundraiser with a suggested donation.<\/p>\n

The foundation also will have a booth at the Aspen Saturday Market on July 13.<\/p>\n

When the foundation meets its goal, the Every Student Flies program will be the only one of its kind in the country.<\/p>\n

Betty embodied the notion that achievements can be made when inspired by flight.<\/p>\n

Betty was instrumental in developing a heliport at Aspen Valley Hospital and establishing a control tower at Sardy Field.<\/p>\n

An inductee of the Aspen Hall of Fame<\/a>, Betty Pfister also founded the Pitkin County Air Rescue Group, an organization that laid the ground work for Mountain Rescue Aspen.<\/p>\n

Pfister said she\u2019s proud of her mother\u2019s legacy and the way she and her father, Art Pfister, raised their family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to do good; it\u2019s in my nature,\u201d Pfister said. \u201cIt was instilled in me by my parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Betty also founded and organized the Snowmass annual balloon race, which Suzanne helped with every year when she was growing up.<\/p>\n

The Pfister kids also were accustomed to the red emergency phone ringing on the living room coffee table that was made out of a gurney.<\/p>\n

Betty routinely would take her children up in her plane and go to parts unknown.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a teenager I didn\u2019t fully appreciate it, but I see now that it was an extraordinary way to live,\u201d Suzanne said.<\/p>\n

The BettyFlies Foundation is a way to keep alive Betty\u2019s insight, and use aviation to ignite student self-confidence, broaden interest in STEM and match the future need for aviation professionals with the careers of young students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe we can make a real difference in the lives of our valley\u2019s youth,\u201d Suzanne Pfister said. \u201cMy mother was a trailblazer in the true sense of the word.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was a flight enthusiast, but she always thought outside the box in all her endeavors. We will be encouraging our applicants to do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

csackariason@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Suzanne Pfister browses through old archives that she calls the “Betty Boxes”, filled with memorabilia from her pilot mother, Betty Pfister. Suzanne has established the BettyFlies Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at providing aviation opportunities to local youth.Jeremy Wallace\/The Aspen Times | Jeremy Wallace\/The Aspen Times A nonprofit bearing the name of Aspen\u2019s first lady of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2445987","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-20 20:01:14","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2445987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2445987"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2445987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2446030,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2445987\/revisions\/2446030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2445987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2445987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2445987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}