40 High School Students Take Flight With Alaska Airlines and UNCF

“This is the future of our country, the future of our communities.” - Alaska Airlines Captain Ron Limes.

On Saturday, Alaska Airlines and UNCF teamed up to begin a historic experience for 40 high school students from the Pacific Northwest. The students and their chaperones were flown to Atlanta aboard Alaska’s Our Commitment aircraft for a trip that will include visits to HBCUs around the Atlanta area.

“We’re here for Black excellence and so students who look like us have opportunities to see colleges in more states,” Franklin High School Junior Chukundi Salisbury Jr. said. “I’m looking forward to networking and meeting people at these colleges.”

The aircraft itself is painted Black and features Black students’ faces along with lettering designed by the late Adé Hogue. Hogue was the subject of our film Finding Go, which premiered last fall at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

“That plane is empowering,” High School student Nyilah Lewis said. “I’m really going to take advantage of this opportunity.”

Present at the takeoff ceremony were UNCF Pacific Northwest Area Development Director Linda Thompson-Black, Captain Ron Limes, Mele Miller, and Alaska Airlines executives.

“This is a historic day,” Thompson-Black. “We’re so excited to have the students have this opportunity to explore HBCUs and see what sort of things they’d like to pursue in their lives.”

You can visit find more photos from the event here and stay tuned for coverage all week long.