Support STEM Education in Memory of Pennsylvania Hero

Support STEM Education in Memory of Northeast PA Air Force Pilot

Captain Brad Logan, USAF, was a 1971 graduate of Wallenpaupack Area HS (WAHS) in Hawley, Pennsylvania. He earned an appointment to the US Air Force Academy, graduating in 1975. This year is his class's 50th reunion.

Brad went on to earn his pilot wings at Craig AF Base in Alabama. He was assigned to the 406th Tactical Fighter Training Wing at Ramstein, West Germany, and died in March 1980 in an F-4G crash near Zaragoza, Spain.

I didn't know Brad Logan personally, but his family name was familiar to me as a young man in rural northeast PA. Almost certainly, we had common teachers going back to elementary school.

Brad was a talented student, earning academic honors in high school and later at the USAFA, where he majored in chemistry. He had an uncommon enthusiasm for life, participating in a host of activities, projects, and clubs. Brad was a varsity athlete in high school and also enjoyed singing in the school's choral groups. At the Air Force Academy, he joined the scuba, mountaineering, ski, and chemistry clubs.

For a decade or more, an award was presented in Brad Logan's memory to a graduating Wallenpaupack High School senior. At some point, this annual recognition stopped. The award was briefly reestablished about five years ago but didn't have the financial backing to sustain an annual scholarship.

The 2025 goal is to re-establish annual student recognition in Brad Logan's memory. Initially, this will be up to three $500 STEM-focused awards with the long-term goal of broadening the award in multiple ways: more student awards, larger student awards, academic areas beyond STEM, and expansion throughout all of Northeast Pennsylvania.

The 2025 GoFundMe goal is $500 (one award) with a stretch goal of $1500 (three awards). Next year, we will attempt to raise a significantly higher amount as a step towards a self-sustaining endowment.

If you are wondering whether there is a demand signal for an award, the first student application for the 2025 Brad Logan Memorial Award was received roughly 30 minutes after the initial announcement! Today's high school students need your support, encouragement, and financial assistance. Like the award's namesake, they inspire us to be our best selves. They are the Nation's future.

A renewed Brad Logan Memorial Award supports two key objectives: encouraging student academic investment in science-based skills that are so desperately needed by the Nation, and bearing witness to a young enthusiastic man who gave his life for the family, community, and country he loved.

Please help honor the Nation's past and prepare for its future by making a gift to this effort!