In the 14 years since she graduated from Skyline High School, Valerie Harter has worked as a NICU nurse, flown Black Hawk helicopters and is now a commercial airline pilot. She credits Mountain Vista Governor’s School with giving her the academic foundation that would allow her to transition from one high-octane career to another.
A chance to spend more time with her friends while also earning college credits led Harter to apply to the governor’s school. Despite her preference for math and science classes, she especially enjoyed her humanities class with Amanda Harrington.
“It’s not a class I would have ever chosen on my own,” said Harter. “There were a few cool events I look back on that made the class really worth it.”
This included a scavenger hunt Ms. Harrington led in Washington, D.C., that saw the students search for clues at a play and in various Smithsonian Institution museums. Harter likened it to the “National Treasure” movies starring Nicolas Cage.
“Nobody else I’ve ever heard of has ever done anything like that – it wasn’t easy,” she said.
After graduating from Skyline High School in 2012 – with 28 credits from Laurel Ridge – Harter decided to take a gap year before enrolling in the Nursing program at the University of Virginia. She had enlisted in the Army National Guard her senior year of high school, and completed her basic and other training during that gap year.
The academic rigor of MVGS – most of the school’s classes, including sciences, math and English are dual enrolled with Laurel Ridge – was helpful to Harter when she was at U.Va.
Valerie Harter spent more than a decade in the Army National Guard.
“MVGS helped my study habits and expanded my thinking, and having a foundation in all of the sciences really benefited me,” she said, adding that the amount of writing and the rigor were also beneficial as she worked on her bachelor’s degree.
Harter was just discharged from the Army this winter after 14 years of service. While she studied nursing in college, in the Army National Guard she was trained in aviation. This meant she would spend all week working full time as a neonatal ICU nurse and fly Black Hawk helicopters once a week with the Guard, where she led a medevac detachment.
Three years ago, she transitioned from full-time nursing to full-time aviating. Now, Harter is a pilot for GoJet Airlines, a regional carrier for United Airlines, flying the CRJ-550. She is grateful that her military benefits covered her college tuition and her pilot training.
“I have never paid for a flight hour because the Army trained me on the helicopter side,” said Harter. “That gave me certain licenses to get the rest of my ratings for the airlines.”
She used to watch air care helicopters flying over her house as a child growing up in Front Royal.
“Growing up, I thought it would be really cool to be a pilot, but I didn’t think it would be possible because it’s extremely expensive,” Harter said. “It’s over $100,000 to become an airline pilot, and sometimes more expensive to become a helicopter pilot. It didn’t seem feasible, but when I got in the military, it was as easy as applying.
“The governor’s school really set me up for success for all of this because I did so many different things. If I didn’t have the foundation in almost everything – physics, all the maths – then I don’t think I would really be successful bouncing back and forth. My career’s been so diverse, I feel like getting that foundation in everything was pretty helpful.”
Harter lives in Richmond, and is grateful she is able to be home with her family every night.
“I have a toddler so I will be making pancakes in the morning, go to the airport, fly a jet and come back and put my daughter to bed,” said Harter.
Laurel Ridge Community College was known as Lord Fairfax Community College until June 2022. For consistency purposes, the college will be referenced as Laurel Ridge going forward.