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By Juan Pedraza
Not even a scratch! That’s the record graduating UND air traffic control major Kevin Broadway posted three years running as a line service operator at the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences airport facility. Kevin and his team daily prepare airplanes for UND student pilots.
“Some people get in a rush, but I always took my time,” said Kevin, who also got his private pilot’s wings at UND. “We’re dealing with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment every time we hook up to an airplane—the least expensive airplane out there is worth $250,000—that’s not something you can take a reckless attitude around.”
Kevin—a native of New Sharon, Iowa, about an hour southeast of Des Moines—won this year’s University of North Dakota (UND) Student Employee of the Year award. Kevin’s unmatched 100 percent safety record also earned him state and regional honors: North Dakota Student Employee of the Year and the Midwest Association of Student Employment Administrators (MASEA) Student Employee of the Year.
“The trickiest part of our job is putting the aircraft back in the hangar because you’re dealing with two pivot points—the airplane pivots on the towbar and towbar pivots on the tug, and you’re turned around in the tug to back the airplane into the hangar,” said Kevin, who on peak days has moved and fueled more than 100 aircraft.
Danny Holwerda, flight line manager and Kevin’s supervisor, nominated him for his outstanding safety record and great attention to detail.
“Kevin’s record of accomplishing the line support operation task at the highest levels is unmatched; he achieved an unblemished record of safety excellence three years in a row, a truly phenomenal performance and a very clear example for other student employees working on the flight line,” Holwerda said.
After commencement, Kevin—who’s already been hired as an air traffic controller at the Des Moines airport—heads to the Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control academy in Oklahoma City.
“I’m really excited about this because it’s my dream job—I’ve been planning for this for years,” he said. “The education at got at UND aerospace was really the best—it put me ahead of the curve.”
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