Pensacola, Florida - More than 400 service members and civilian employees attended a two-hour Naval Air Technical Training Center sponsored Women's History Month celebration March 29 in the Chevalier Hall Charles E. Taylor Hangar aboard Naval Air Station Pensacola.

The celebration, a NATTC Diversity Council function designed to showcase the National Women's History Project's 2016 National Women's History Month theme of 'Working to Form a More Perfect Union: Honoring Women in Public Service and Government,' featured presentations from NATTC Executive Officer Cmdr. Scott Sherman and guest speaker Lusharon Wiley as well as a question and answer session and presentation from Manpower, Personnel, Training and Education
Fleet Master Chief (AW/SW) April D. Beldo.

Beldo spoke for nearly 10 minutes to the crowd, explaining the importance of the changes she's seen during her U.S. Navy career.

"Things have changed," she said. "In my 30+ years I have seen change in the Navy and one of the things I've noticed as part of our organization is that we're ahead of society when it comes to changing and being more accepting to the diversity of an organization and including everyone's ideas, their vision and their background."

Beldo cited several examples of women in the U.S. Navy who affected significant change, citing accounts of heroism on battlefields, strides in innovation and technology as well as assuming responsibilities in what were previously male occupations and roles.

"Don't tell me it cannot be done," she told the audience. "Because there are some trailblazers making it possible for you and I to do whatever we set our minds to. They didn't allow anyone or anything to stand in their way. Let's make it our personal mission that their efforts not be in vain."

Wiley, the associate dean of students and the director of Inclusion Services and Programs at the University of West Florida in Pensacola, spoke on the various contributions women have made in local and national arenas.

NATTC Executive Officer Cmdr. Scott Sherman, also a guest speaker at the event, said the NATTC Women's History Month celebration is important for the hundreds of students present.

"Here at NATTC we have an awesome diverse staff," he said. "We come from all walks of life, all backgrounds. Twenty-three percent of our student population is female so we have to have awesome female instructors in order to mentor those young women. The staff that we have here is the best in the Fleet and it's an honor to work with them on a daily basis."

Event organizer Senior Chief Air Traffic Controller (AS/SW) Jacqueline Williams said the event was extraordinarily successful, and hoped the presentations were able to impress on both the men and women in attendance - most of who have been in the Navy less than six months - the importance of diversity as they begin their Navy careers.

"These dynamic speakers [Beldo, Wiley and Sherman] are all experts with years of experience and leadership in their respective areas," she said. "Their views on the changing roles of women in the military, women in the Navy, and women in public service are something from which each and every one of these young Sailors can learn and appreciate."

In the United States, Women's History Month traces its beginnings back to the first International Women's Day in 1911. Since 1988, U.S. presidents have issued annual proclamations designating the month of March as Women's History Month.

For more than 70 years, the Naval Air Technical Training Center has been providing training and increasing readiness within the Naval Aviation Enterprise. The facility graduates approximately 15,000 Navy, Marine Corps and international students annually and is the largest training facility in the Navy post Recruit Training Command.

NATTC is part of the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training, which provides single site management for Navy and Marine Corps aviation technical training.