Culver gives students opportunity to fly regularly and possibly even solo

Roberto Selem A’24 W’21 wasn’t nervous when his flying instructor had to make an emergency landing at the Warsaw Municipal Airport after a blown piston caused a loss of oil pressure.

Selem had been practicing touch-and-go landings, a landing routine where a pilot touches down on the runway and then takes off again without stopping. They were headed back to the Plymouth Municipal Airport when the instructor declared an emergency and turned back to Warsaw.

“We landed at 130 knots – super fast for landing – and the plane couldn’t go any more. So we got out and pushed it off the runway and parked it there. When we checked the plane, we realized the fuselage was full of oil,” Selem said.

Selem said he wasn’t shaken by the event.

“I saw how my instructor handled the situation. He was calm. So professional,” he said. “It’s not like watching a video. You lived the event. So it’s a different feeling.”

Selem also ran into a problem when making his solo flight on the last day of camp last year. He was sitting on the runway when strong winds began to push the plane to the left. Then the rain came. He had to wait for an hour.

“But the Lord was with me. We managed to find an opening to take off,” Selem said.

He said Culver teaches students how to manage challenges.

 

Selem spoke to this year’s aviation students heading into the final week, telling them about the importance of representing those who went before them.

“The shirt is not just a shirt. It’s a legacy,” Selem said. “You are representing guys who were here 20 or 40 years ago, whether as a camper or as a counselor.”

Many of the first classmen and second classmen knew Selem because they had been at Culver with him last summer.

The Summer School of Aviation, one of the three schools of excellence that make up the Upper Schools, offers a hands-on, innovative curriculum that uses the science and discipline of flight to instill leadership, technical skill and character.

All aviation students have the opportunity to purchase a Discovery Flight or Flight Training Package through Culver’s collaboration with LIFT Academy, located at the nearby Plymouth Municipal Airport. LIFT, or Leadership In Flight Training, is a premier flight school owned by Republic Airways, offering students access to professional-grade instruction in state-of-the-art Diamond DA40NG aircraft.

Students who complete the full training package may have the opportunity to fly solo.

In 2024, Selem was one of two of the 53 students in the program to fly solo. This year there were 41 students in the program and two flew solo, although one did it at home before camp.

Selem hopes to be an aviation counselor in several years, following in the footsteps of his older brother.

Selem, who is from Sen Pedro Garza Garcia in Monterrey, Mexico, said he doesn’t think teenagers can go anywhere else and learn in six weeks what Culver has to offer. He said he looked around the United States for programs.

“You cannot find any other program that teaches aviation and leadership in the same place,” Selem said.

Selem’s mother, Roberta Barrera, also spoke to the aviation students after being introduced by her older son, Rafael Selem A’21, who worked as a counselor this year. She told the students her oldest son called home seven years ago to say how he wanted to come home while her younger son called and said he was loving Woodcraft Camp.

Roberto Selem said he loved hanging out with his friends at Woodcraft.

“It’s an amazing experience as a kid. You have so much fun,” he said.

She was pleasantly surprised by her older son’s reception when she arrived for Parents Weekend.

 

“Hi, I don’t have time for you right now. I have to get a ribbon at rifle. Bye! By the way, if you want to see me, go to the airport later,” she said. “He made me suffer for no reason. He was really happy.”

She then went and saw her younger son having fun doing arts and crafts at Woodcraft.

“I discovered the magic that only takes place at Culver. The faces, the smiles that I see in both of my sons, I don’t see them anywhere else. Just here,” Barrera said.

Selem is eager to get back in the air, but said it is difficult to do in Mexico. He hopes to eventually earn a private pilot’s license and become certified in instrument flight rules.

The Selem Barrera and Sada Moreno families will be hosting a Culver reception in Monterrey on Nov. 7.

Barrera had a simple explanation for why she is hosting the event: “Because I love this place. I love this place with all my heart. There’s no place like Culver.”