UPDATE: This story has been updated to reflect the housing authority in Ward 4 is Western Gardens. We regret the error and are happy to set the record straight.

Members of the Boys and Girls Club of East Mississippi, children from Eastern Gardens and members of the community joined Ward 4 Meridian City Councilwoman Romande Walker on Monday as she hosted her second annual tour of Meridian Airport.

The tour, which was open to all members of Ward 4, exposed the children to a variety of different airport jobs and careers, as well as educated them on a part of the community most had never seen. Children in Western Gardens, Walker said, frequently see low-flying planes as they land or take off at the airport. Few of them, however, have ever seen the planes on the ground.

Walker, who is also a teacher in addition to her council duties, said her goal is to expose children to a wide range of possibilities, expand their horizons and inspire them to seek out good careers.

“I’m a big person on education. I want them to know about it,” she said. “I’m also wanting to change the trajectory, their thought pattern. I want them to see something else and take it and make it their career choice.”

Meridian Airport Authority President Tom Williams, who gave the children a brief history of aviation in Meridian, said the airport operates much like a small city, and many of the jobs needed for a municipality to thrive are also key positions at an airport.

On the tour, children heard from a representative from United Airlines about the role airlines play in airport operations, learned about the steps to becoming a pilot, visited with firefighters with the 186th Air Refueling Wing Fire and Rescue about some of the special equipment needed to respond to airplane emergencies and stopped by the airport’s maintenance hangar to see what it takes to be an airplane mechanic.

The tour concluded with a short bus trip back to the main terminal for Chick-fil-A.

Walker said she is already looking forward to the third airport tour next year and is working to coordinate events with other businesses and industries in her ward as well.

“We have a lot of other places in our community they’re gonna see us coming to pretty soon,” she said. “I want the Ward 4 community to know about the businesses and things that’s in their community.’