Girl chases dream of becoming a pilot
Harmony Grove senior headed to Naval Academy, Annapolis
By MIKE DOUGHERTY Editor

Courtney Blockburger

Courtney Blockburger, 18, of Benton has taken a major step in achieving a lifelong dream - becoming a pilot - by accepting an appointment to the United States Naval Academy.

The Harmony Grove High School senior said she has wanted to be a pilot since she can remember - it probably started when she first went to air shows with her parents when she was 2.

"It was always, 'airplane … airplane,' with Courtney," said her mother, Harmony Grove science teacher Susan Blockburger. "First it was just any plane, and later, it was the Stealth bomber that fascinated her."

Susan's husband, Joshua Blockburger, was career military, she said, so "we went to air shows often, at whichever base we were stationed at the time." medical disability. He commanded a unit of the 101st Airborne Division. He now is a Justice Department employee, based in Little Rock. (Susan originally is from Bryant and Joshua hails from Clarksville.)

Courtney has a brother, Jacob, 12, who is a Benton Middle School student. Blockburger said she knew she wanted to be a pilot, so she looked at the Air Force Academy and the Naval Academy when she started looking at schools about 18 months ago.

Courtney Blockburger, left, and her mother and former science teacher, Susan Blockburger, discuss the girl's appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy.

She said she found out about a month ago that the appointment was coming, but she received her letter from U.S. Rep Vic Snyder, D-Little Rock, last week. It was a joint appointment from Snyder, U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln and President George W. Bush, her mother said.

When the letter came, Courtney said, "I thought, 'Wow! My dreams are coming true - I'm going to try and be a pilot. This is happening - I am going to Annapolis [Md.].'"

Blockburger said she also intends to "walk on" to try to make the Naval Academy varsity swimming team. "I will have to try to get my times down to make the varsity team," she said.

She is secretary of the National Honor Society and a member of the Student Council, Beta Club and Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

She was captain of the Lady Cardinals cross-country team and lettered four years in swimming, often as the only member of the Harmony Grove swimming team. She advanced to the state level of competition all four years.

Blockburger also participates in amateur meets as a member of the Arkansas Dolphins Lasers swimming team. The team swims at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. It was the 2008 short-course champion and is preparing now for the long-course season.

"I spend most of my time at school," she said, "in the pool or on the way to or from swimming practice."

She said she keeps up with her friends, but often it is by cell phone, on the way to Little Rock and back.

Blockburger said she believes that she knows what a challenge she is facing in becoming a pilot.

"It's a challenge," she said. "I realize that. Not many women have become pilots. But it has happened, so I plan to be one of them."

She said her parents have always played a key role in her life, including her dad, who has always instilled in her the belief that she can achieve anything she wants to achieve.

She and her mother are close; they talk a lot. Susan has twice taught Courtney in the classroom - earth science in the eighth grade, and biology in the 10th.

Darlene Emmons, her history teacher in the seventh, eighth and 11th grades, also has been an inspiration to her, Courtney said. "She is a good teacher," she said, "and I have learned a lot in her classes."

Susan Blockburger said she will miss her daughter, but that she is extremely proud of what she has accomplished.

"It will be difficult at first, not having her around the house," she said, "but it helps to know that she is achieving what she always has dreamed of. She is trying to do something that is a real challenge, and I am proud of her for that. I think she is extremely brave."

Her dad is equally impressed with what their daughter has achieved.

"It is a tremendous honor," Joshua Blockburger said. "We're proud of her. She has worked hard.

"We always have taught her, 'If you've got a dream, go for your dream.' She's been one of those lucky kids who has an opportunity to do that."

Courtney Blockburger has attended Harmony Grove since the sixth grade. Before that, she was a student at Fort Campbell, Ky., Woodbridge, Va., and Valrico, Fla., east of Tampa.

A former classmate at Harmony Grove is Stu Coston, who recently learned of his appointment to the Air Force Academy (Saline County Voice, Feb. 13). He finished school through a home-school program, so that he could devote more time to tennis.

"I think that's pretty impressive," Susan Blockburger said. "Courtney's class has 48 members … so what would have been a class of 49 at Harmony Grove earns two service academy appointments."

Until she reports for her basic training at 6:30 a.m. July 2, in Annapolis, Courtney Blockburger said, she will work to get ready for the academy.

"I'll be training for it," she said. "Athletically, I am closer to being ready because of crosscountry and swimming. Otherwise, I will finish school, keep swimming with the Dolphins and I also help coach a kids team [Bryant Barracudas] that'll keep me busy."