FAIRVIEW TOWNSHIP, YORK COUNTY, Pa. -- Local Civil Air Patrol cadets spend hours flying, working to rank up and say what they learn training with the Civil Air Patrol they’ll take with them forever.
Brandon Site is a Civil Air Patrol Cadet from Mechanicsburg.
"In the Civil Air Patrol, it teaches you to live for something a little bigger than yourself, to live for something greater than yourself," said Cadet Site.
He pilots a Cessna 182 for the first time at Skyport Aviation in Fairview Township, York County near New Cumberland after training with his deputy commander, Lt. Col. Steve Riley.
Cadets say the lessons they learn stretch beyond the sky.
"I like to say that we do not live because our lives are worth something great but because something great is worth our lives," said Cadet Site.
Cadets learn the importance of serving others while training in the Civil Air Patrol.
"The civil air patrol has taught me that putting myself first never does get anywhere - that you have to put your team first, and your country first, and other people first," added Site.
Many of the cadets will take the skills learned in the Civil Air Patrol and start a life-long endeavor serving others: joining the military.
Cadet Taylor Krause, who lives in Camp Hill, says she'll definitely join the Air Force when she's old enough.
"Go into the Air Force, maybe be a pilot," said Cadet Carson Dively from Mechanicsburg.
"Maybe a bomber in the Air Force or something like that," added Cadet Site.
Acquiring skills for a future career and wisdom beyond their years.
"I've gotten extreme aerospace leadership, learning, I've gotten family out of it," said Cadet Krause.
"When we come to the end of our life, people aren't going to ask, ‘who did you live for?’ because we're all humans, and there's only ever going to be one of us. but when we come to the end of our life, they're going to ask, 'what did we live for?'" said Cadet Site.