SP Native Is First Female SUPT Graduate At Vance Selected To Fly The F-35 Lightning II

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If the Air Force were casting for another Marvel movie, their lead would be at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma — Second Lieutenant Rachel Vander Kolk.

On May 1, the Severna Park native graduated from the Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training program and became the first woman selected at Vance to fly the F-35 Lightning II — the jet of the future.

The F-35 requires the best that the Air Force has to offer, which is where Vander Kolk steps in.

The selectee comes from the University of Virginia with a degree in aerospace engineering. She played collegiate level lacrosse all four years of college, was a three-time state champion goalkeeper with the Severna Park High School lacrosse team, and she was also a four-year starter for the Falcons basketball team.

She wanted to be in the Air Force and found her way in through the one-year program that University of Virginia temporarily offered for ROTC students.

“I basically did a crash course in ROTC, went to field training, commissioned and then came here [to Vance],” Vander Kolk said.

Once she got to Vance, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to fly, but she took the same go-getter attitude from college to the flight line.

“When I got here, I just wanted to be in the air,” Vander Kolk said.

She was open to the needs of the Air Force, but gradually, she began to focus on the F-35. Vander Kolk liked the idea of being in a jet that was good in all aspects of air combat.

Vander Kolk didn’t know she would be a first for Vance if she got what she wanted. She was focusing on celebrating the success of her class at drop night — the tradition every pilot goes through when they find out what assignment and aircraft they will get.

She flew that morning, so she didn’t have a lot of time to anticipate what she would drop. There was noticeable electricity in the air for all the student pilots.

And when the assignments dropped, Vander Kolk made history for Vance.

“There’s not a lot of words to describe the feeling I had when I found out,” Vander Kolk said.

After working so hard for her goal of F-35 selection, it took time to process what she achieved both for herself and women at Vance.

She attributed her success to teamwork. “Everybody’s mission is important,” Vander Kolk said. “Looking out for my team is what lifts me up.”

The F-35 selectee encouraged everyone pursuing ambitious goals to work hard at everything they do to open as many doors as possible.

“I didn’t always know I wanted to be a pilot, but I wanted to be the best at what I tried,” Vander Kolk said.

Captain Marvel would certainly approve.

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