STUDENT PROFILE

STUDENT PROFILE The Sky Life

By Joe Tougas ‘86

You know how it goes: You’re a first-year student checking emails when you receive an invitation to be a spokesperson and model for the aircraft you’re flying in school. You check that it’s legit, and sure enough the next thing you know you’re aboard a four-seater in Florida and meeting the company’s head executives. So went another ho-hum day in the life of Elle Taylor, a sophomore aviation student at Minnesota State Mankato who today finds herself serving as a brand ambassador for the Piper aircraft company while soaring through classes toward a commercial pilot’s license. As brand ambassador, she’s paid to promote her experience as a North Star Aviation flight student at the University, which uses Piper aircraft in its curriculum. This involves attending corporate events across the country and posting her experiences on social media. “Basically every week I do one to two posts, either on my story or my main feed, saying ‘This is what I’m doing, where I’m at,’” Taylor said. “It’s all about highlighting our flight school to get people to come here to fly.” Her Instagram is loaded with shots in various locales, as only a frequent flier could nab. A few months after taking the role, she flew to the company’s headquarters in Vero Beach, Fla. While there, she toured the Piper factory, filmed some promo shots and posted them on social media. “That was a cool experience, especially flying over the ocean,” she said. “We literally went down 500 feet above the water and looked for sea turtles. You don’t get to do that in Minnesota.” On one hand, Taylor sees the current opportunity as the rarity it is. But at the same time, it falls into place as another flight-oriented chapter in her life. Simply put, the sky is where she has always wanted to be—as a kid growing up in Rosemount, Minn., with a pilot father and, now, as a flight student herself.

“I loved being up in the sky … it’s such a weird thing to say, but it made me happy. It was my happy place. And when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do for school, I couldn’t imagine not flying or being up there as often as I was when I was young. So when I found out that Mankato had a program and it wasn’t super far from home … that’s when I knew it was where I wanted to go.” In May of 2022, she received her private pilot’s license and, in October 2022, her instrument rating. Taylor is now pursuing a commercial pilot’s license, the type involving long, solo cross-country flights in a Piper Archer, after which she’ll fly the twin engine plane. Ultimately, she wants to follow her dad’s path as a pilot and fly jets for a commercial airline. She’s also glad to be another woman in an industry that’s still male dominated enough to have worried her as a student. “When I came in last year, I was super nervous,” she said. “It sounds cliché but I was worried that people wouldn’t think I was qualified because I’m a girl. But it’s been the complete opposite. If anything, my guy friends are coming to me, and they’re like ‘Can you help me study for this? Can you help me with this? Do you understand this? Can you show me how to do that or can we talk about that?’ They’re coming to me, and I was so shocked by that because I thought it would be me going to them.”

Elle Taylor, an aviation student, is also serving as brand ambassador for Piper aircraft.