Dear Ryan,
I am honored to have been chosen to receive the 2016 Ryan McShane Hope FLYs Scholarship. Thanks to your generosity I am one step closer to achieving my dream of becoming an airline pilot and as a result of this award I will be able to focus more on learning. I plan on obtaining my instrument rating by the end of the 2017 academic year and I also plan to become a certified flight instructor by the end my junior year (2017-2018). I then hope to pass down my knowledge and experience to new students at SIU and beyond as well as inspire them to achieve their goals as Ryan McShane and his scholarship have inspired me. I’ve always been determined to achieve my dreams and this scholarship inspires me to work even harder as it reaffirms how hard work pays off and brings my dreams closer to reality. I am so incredibly grateful to be the recipient of this award and one day once I am established in my career, I hope to give back to students as the gracious donors of this scholarship have. I know firsthand how immensely inspiring it is to receive such an award and it would be another dream come true if I, too, can help inspire the future of aviation.
Sincerely,
Ian Griffith
