Lynne Denison Foster was honoured with a lifetime achievement award for her significant contribution as a leading aviation instructor at BCIT’s Aerospace Technology Campus in Richmond.
The award, presented by the British Columbia Aviation Council, came as a surprise to Foster. Although she has been in the industry for 43 years, she is younger than the previous recipients of such an award.
“I’m still in the industry and I’m not ill and I’m still functioning,” said Foster. “They could have tabled the award because I’m still in the industry but they still felt that I deserved it for the work that I did.”
Foster was a trainer for about 28 years and has been at BCIT for 12 years, an uncommon duration in the aviation education field.
“I am probably the only person in British Columbia that has been an aviation educator for that length of time,” commented Foster.
From the time she flew on a plane at 11 years old, she has been infatuated with the concept of aviation. With the help of her father, she got a job at a small airline in Edmonton.
“I was hired into the training department. I was 19 and I was kind of an experiment because they weren’t hiring people that young,” recalled Foster, who has been a trainer since age 24.
Foster is currently an instructor in the airport operations program and is responsible for teaching and developing courses related to leadership and communication in aviation safety and customer service for both faculty and students.
In her 12 years at BCIT, she has made significant contributions to the institution and was instrumental in the launch of BCIT’s airport operations diploma programs.
Foster was presented with the BCAC Lifetime Achievement Award during the Silver Wings Awards gala at the Vancouver International Airport South Terminal on October 25.[hr]
Neetu was born and raised in the Okanagan Valley (minus the few toddler years she spent living in Punjab, India where her line of heritage is from). She moved to the lower mainland to attend BCIT and is now in her graduating year of the Broadcast and Online Journalism Program. Her writing and editing for Link magazine often happens late at night because when she’s not at school she works as a reporter and anchor for CKNW Newstalk 980 and is also involved in the start up of a charity called the Beautiful World Foundation. She loves to travel and feels fortunate to be in a field where she can share the stories of interesting and inspiring people from around the world.
