SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE, N.C. – The 4th Fighter Wing partnered with the Wayne County Public School district for a ribbon cutting ceremony to recognize the opening of the Wayne School of Technical Arts (WSTA) at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, Sept. 9.

WSTA will be the first public school located on a military installation in North Carolina, along with being one out of a minuscule number of public schools nationwide with this distinction.

“WSTA is the future of education,” said Joshua Mallory, WSTA principal. “It will help blueprint what collaboration, innovation and scholarship can and will look like for generations of students to come.”

The core academic programs at WSTA include math, science, social studies, English and world languages. It also offers a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics based education along with an internationally recognized Advanced Placement Capstone degree program that was created to bolster access to higher education.

WSTA will be comprised of students from the local community and military children, each will make up 50 percent of the total enrollment.

“What I love most about WSTA is that at it’s very core, it represents a partnership between our base, our Airmen, our families and the local community and state in which we live,” said Col. Lucas Teel, 4th Fighter Wing commander. “This is not just a base school, it’s a community school.”