Jude Masoni will attend Liberty University in Virginia in the fall. Liberty boasts one of the largest faith-based collegiate aviation programs in North America. Masoni plans to earn a bachelor of science in commercial aeronautics, with hopes to become a pilot. Masoni’s mom attended Liberty for graduate school, making him a legacy. While Masoni was drawn to Liberty for many reasons, the main one was the strength they had in his major.

“They had a really good program for the major I was looking at,” Masoni said. “They put a lot of money into the program, so it’s pretty nice and there are a lot of planes.”

Becoming a pilot popped up on Masoni’s radar late into his junior year.

“A family friend planted the idea,” he said. “But we lost contact with him, so I had to figure out how to do it on my own, and I thought that this might be the best option.”

Masoni only applied to one other school, ACC, as a backup, because he was set on Liberty. Due to rolling admissions, he got accepted early in the year and early in the morning on that fateful day,

“I woke up,” Masoni said, “and I was in bed half asleep and I saw the email pop up, and I was like ‘Wait, no way,’ so I opened it and ran up to my mom and I was like ‘I got in!’ It was a pretty fun moment.”

There is much that Masoni is looking forward to on campus and soaring above it.

“There is just a lot to do,” he said, “and I will also be flying out of a local airport.”

While he is excited about Liberty, he also knows it will be a big change.

“I have been in Texas a long time, so it is going to be a little bit weird being on the East Coast,” he said.

And while he has made many memories at Mac, the highlight of his high school years has involved the people around him.

“Honestly just meeting a lot of new people and being able to hang out with friends has been the highlight [of McCallum],” Masoni said.