MAXTON —Barrington Irving knows what it is like to be young and facing unlikely odds.

The pilot was in Maxton Thursday to tell other young people that they can achieve any goal they set for themselves.

Irving, who holds the record as the youngest pilot to fly around the world, spoke to a group of about 150 Carver Middle School Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Academy students, who crowded into an airplane hanger at the Laurinburg-Maxton Airport to hear his story.

“It doesn’t matter who much revenue you have or don’t have, anyone can make it in this country and that is what makes this country so great,” Irving said.

Kingston Jamaica native, who was raised in Miami, has been featured in National Geographic for flying solo around the world in 2007, at the age of 23. He became the youngest person to do that in a single-engine airplane. The trip took a total of 97 days, and spanned 30,000 miles in a single-engine plane called “Inspiration.”

“Now I travel and talk at schools all across the nation, large cities and small communities, but this is the first time we have had the chance to bring kids to their local airport.”

This was Irving’s first trip to rural North Carolina to speak with students and share his experience and provide a hands-on lesson on how aviation can strengthen student’s understanding of the STEM curriculum.

“Yes I fly planes, but I do some much more outside of that, whether it’s tracking down sea snakes, or jumping out of planes from 30,000 feet, or working with a bionic chef. There are so many things in the realm of science, technology, engineering and math,” Irving said.

Irving also explained his road to aviation didn’t happen overnight and that he was once a student just as those listening to his words of inspiration.

“We wanted kids to understand that it simply starts with just exploring, just explore something different,” he said. “You can do that online, through different experiences and what these kids saw today is a kid who went from three holes in the bottoms of his shoes to building a company and flying around the world, and doing all these successful things, but it starts with a humble beginning and you want them to identify that.”

Originally Irving had no interest in flying planes until the day he met a pilot who explained that commercial airline pilots made over $100 an hour.

“I was a high school football star in Miami and football was everything to me until I met an airline pilot who told me he made $117 an hour and I said ‘man, I’m interested.’ I think most people would say that … especially from the community I came from.”

Ron Hargrave, Scotland County Schools superintendent, said he first saw Irving speak in Florida and has been in communication with him ever since to get him to Scotland County to speak with STEM students.

“Programs like this are giving our students an opportunity to see what is going on outside of Scotland County and North Carolina — just to give them the opportunity first hand to experience with someone who has done something not many people in the U.S. or the world have done, and for him to be able to talk about his experiences and how he started — he was just like any other student, ” Hargrave said.

Irving has gone on to start The Flying Classroom, a cutting-edge, global, STEM digital learning tool designed to help students excel in math, science, reading, and other core subjects for students in kindergarten to eighth grade.

Some of the international destinations Irving has visited through The Flying Classroom include, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Russia, and Canada — among countless others.

“This is the first time we have come to a rural community and had the chance to work with students in this way. This school district was very forward thinking in how they could maximize my presence here and not just show up and talk at the school.”

According to Hargrave, Scotland County schools hopes to integrate STEM into elementary schools next, because there is a lot of catch-up needed to bring middle and high school students “up to speed” on today’s STEM curriculum.

“I liked how the captain taught us about his aviation career and tried to inspire us into going into it,” said Sydnee Dial, a 6th grader at Carver Middle School.

The STEM students also had the opportunity to build wooden model airplanes powered by rubber bands connected to a plastic propeller.

After piecing together the wooden airplanes in “squads,” the students ventured out of the hanger to let their creations fly. Most of the homemade planes took a nose dive because of a heavy breeze at the airbase.

“My favorite part of today was learning about what Capt. Barrington did in his life and seeing his presentation at Scotland High School,” said 12-year-old Cameron Gagnon, a sixth grader at Carver Middle School.

Irving said it was great to “come to this community and be able to help these kids understand there are some many opportunities in every community, adding that the student were fortunate to have the Golden Knights “practice in their backyard.”

“We just want these kids to get connected with these types of resources in their community,” he said.

“He took his dreams and was able to accomplish something — something great,” Hargrave said.

Nolan Gilmour | Laurinburg Exchange Carver Middle School STEM Academy students fly model airplanes they made as a part of Captain Barrington Irvine’s Flying Classroom.
https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_fly.jpgNolan Gilmour | Laurinburg Exchange Carver Middle School STEM Academy students fly model airplanes they made as a part of Captain Barrington Irvine’s Flying Classroom.

Nolan Gilmour | Laurinburg Exchange World-record holding pilot Barrington Irvine shares a laugh with STEM students that he spoke to during a presentation Thursday at the Laurinburg-Maxton Airport.
https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_irving.jpgNolan Gilmour | Laurinburg Exchange World-record holding pilot Barrington Irvine shares a laugh with STEM students that he spoke to during a presentation Thursday at the Laurinburg-Maxton Airport.

By Nolan Gilmour

[email protected]

Reach Nolan Gilmour at 910-506-3171