At any given school, anywhere in America, most teachers will tell you there are those days when it seems students are just watching the clock and waiting for the bell to ring them out of school.

Some talk incessantly despite a teacher’s insistence that they be quiet, others doodle and write notes to each other, while others simply nap in class. Yet when Josette Dishongh walks into a classroom most students are all eyes and ears.

They listen attentively as the community affairs specialist for the Houston Airport System (HAS) describes the intricacies of working for one of the largest airport system’s in the world. Dishongh has been educating area students about aviation for years now as part of the Houston Airport System’s HAS in the Schools program.

“Letting these kids know what kind of careers are out there – fields they may never have thought about – is the goal,” says Dishongh. “A lot of times the children don’t even realize the variety of careers that are available at an airport.”

Initially created as an outreach program for at risk youth during Mayor Lee P. Brown’s administration, in 1997, HAS in the Schools is now a community outreach effort geared towards broadening the young minds of area students about the variety of career options available to them.

Since 2006, the Houston Airport System has taken a more active role in neighboring schools around George Bush Intercontinental, William P. Hobby and Ellington Field by participating in classroom presentations, career day events and other activities.

“The idea of taking our presentations to the classroom was to make the students feel more comfortable and to encourage them to ask more questions,” adds Dishongh. “The classroom setting allows me to adapt the presentation to the proper age group.”

Questions about the airports generally lean heavily towards the mechanics of flying planes, learning how to fly and the types of airplanes that land in Houston. Every once in a while a student’s curiosity piques and they want to know how to get hired at the airport.

It is a question Dishongh is prepared for.