Featured Student

Rick Henderson

Born in Waycross, Georgia, Rick moved to Jacksonville when he was three months old — “with my parents in tow,” he jokes. He grew up in the Southside area, graduating from Englewood High School in 1965. Rick briefly attended a local technical school but found it wasn’t for him. It was thanks to an uncle that Rick did find what would become two life-long passions — airplanes and photography.

Soon after, he answered an ad in the newspaper for a photographer trainee. Thus Rick started his first career in photography at a portrait studio in the NAS Jax Naval Exchange. It wasn’t long after that he was asked to relocate to the west coast, to manage Navy base studios in California.

While he enjoyed living in California, after 13 years he decided it was time to come home and settle down. He returned to Mandarin, where he still resides. Throughout jobs in varied fields, Rick continued to do photography on the side, mainly weddings and portraits. But it was yet another pursuit, successfully investing in real estate, that has given Rick enough free time to return to school and pursue training in his hobbies.

It is his lifelong love of aircraft that has led Rick to where you would find him today — at Cecil Center South’s Aviation Center of Excellence (ACE). With his wife Alison’s blessing, Rick started the Aviation Maintenance Technician program in 2005. He will complete certificates in both Aircraft Airframe and Powerplant Mechanics this semester. “After a short break, I may take ground school and flight lessons, and finish up the degree program online,” he says. He’s also thinking about starting his own aircraft business.