United Captain Carole Hopson Aims to Train 100 Pilots as LSU Gets $5M

Flight training scholarships for aspiring commercial aviators and a permanent university endowment for students from the foster care system led education and career coverage on November 7, 2026.

United Airlines Captain Carole Hopson Works to Send 100 Black Women to Flight School by 2035

United Airlines Boeing 737 Captain Carole Hopson, 62, is leading a nationwide push through her nonprofit Jet Black Foundation to enroll 100 Black women in commercial flight school by 2035. After building a 20-year career as a corporate executive at Foot Locker, the National Football League (NFL), and luxury retail brands, Hopson returned to flight training, earned her Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate at age 50, worked as a flight instructor and regional pilot, and joined United Airlines as a First Officer at age 54 in 2018 before upgrading to Boeing 737 Captain.

Hopson—who also authored the historical novel A Pair of Wings chronicling pioneering 1920s aviator Bessie Coleman—launched the Jet Black Foundation to address the steep financial barriers of commercial pilot certification, which can cost approximately $150,000 in tuition and flight hours. The foundation currently mentors a cohort of 15 students in grades 8 through 11, introducing them to aerodynamics, simulator training, and aviation career pathways.

According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Women in Aviation International, AVweb, and Bureau of Labor Statistics figures cited in the report, women account for less than 10% of the 490,470 certificated pilots in the United States and roughly 5% of commercial airline transport pilots, while Black women represent less than 1% of the pilot workforce—even as 69,503 student pilot certificates were issued in 2023. Hopson's initiative complements broader industry pipelines such as the United Aviate Academy, which set a goal of training 5,000 new pilots by 2030 with at least 50% of classes composed of women or people of color.

First Lady Melania Trump Announces $5 Million Fostering the Future Endowment at LSU

In higher education philanthropy, First Lady Melania Trump traveled to Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Saturday to announce a $5 million permanent scholarship endowment at Louisiana State University (LSU) through her Fostering the Future initiative before attending the LSU Tigers football game at Tiger Stadium. The $5 million endowment will provide recurring tuition, housing, and academic support scholarships for LSU students transitioning out of the foster care system. The visit followed a week in which the First Lady's office highlighted diplomatic outreach that helped broker a temporary local ceasefire near Oleshky to reunite separated families, as well as the release of a trailer for an upcoming 2-part documentary series.