Growing up Lizzie Denton always pictured herself as a nurse.
Now, the 27-year-old is a one of a handful of women pilots stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base. She’s also a soccer coach and Sunday school teacher for children on the West Plains, and said she hopes her story and experience will inspire the next generation of girls.Lizzy Denton said she never considered joining the military, or flying, while growing up in Texas. She said she had hoped to follow in the footsteps of her mother, who works at a cancer research center in Houston.
Lizzy Denton: “I got a biology degree and now I’m flying planes. It’s pretty incredible. And I played soccer in college. Not everybody gets that opportunity, so I’m pretty thankful.”
Denton was recruited to play college soccer at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado and got a slot to go to pilot training while there. Fairchild was her first assignment after graduation and now she flies refueling and cargo missions.
Denton’s birthday coincides with Women’s Equality Day, August 26. holiday to commemorate the day the 19th Amendment was ratified, giving the women the right to vote.
She said her goal while in Spokane is to encourage children from under-represented groups to be leaders and take on challenges, even when they’ve never seen anyone like them in those types of roles.
Lizzy Denton: “I hope they look at me and think, well if Lizzy can do it, I can do it too.”
She said she’s already had some conversations like that through her work as a Sunday school teacher and a soccer coach in Spokane, and hopes to be an example for her team and students.
She said she’s hoping she’ll inspire her students and team the same way women commanders she’s met in her career inspired her.
Lizzy Denton: “Even seeing them in a leadership position gives me courage to seek after that.”
This story was corrected from the original version to reflect that Denton recieved a pilot's license after graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy.
