J U LY 2021
Leaside Life leasidelife.com
No. 110
Local teens speak about their Covid grad year Pg. 6
Leasider and pilot Brett Champion.
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ORTING LOCAL
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by SUSAN SCANDIFFIO “To most people, the sky is the limit. To those who love aviation, the sky is home.” —Jerry Crawford, U.S. Air Force. The amount of air traffic over Leaside has long been a bone of contention for many residents. But for 20-year-old Brett S ES Champion, watching IN planes fly over his house as a child was
always a huge thrill. The graduate of St. Anselm’s and Leaside High was fixated on planes from a young age. From LEGO to Play Mobil, from model to paper planes, he couldn’t get enough of the flying machines. Fuselage, rudder, airfoil, and altitude were all a part of his early lexicon. While he can’t quite pinpoint the original source of his love of planes, Champion has been a very frequent
flyer since childhood, visiting his grandparents in Nova Scotia. He came to the realization very early on that he “didn’t see (myself) in an office, but thought it would be cool to have an office 30,000 feet in the air.” In 2019, he gained admission into the highly competitive Aviation General Arts and Science program at Conestoga College, which is a collaboration between Conestoga College PILOT Page 22
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Flying high over Leaside