19-year-old graduate charts a course toward a career in air-traffic control

Adelaide Britton has known for a while what she wanted to be when she grew up.

She just wasn’t sure she could actually wait that long to get started on her career.

So, Britton took advantage of the concurrent-enrollment program that allows high school students to take college classes, then transferred her credits to Metropolitan State University of Denver. Now, at 19, she’s preparing to walk across the stage at the Denver Coliseum on May 16 as the University’s youngest spring 2025 graduate. From there, with a degree in Aviation and Aerospace Science, she’s ready and eager to step into a career as an air-traffic controller.

A lot of teenagers — middle-aged people, too, for that matter — would consider the workload and dedication required to accomplish what Britton did unbearable. But when she talks about her college experience, which included an 18-credit-hour semester, summer school and mountains of homework, all while she worked two jobs, she uses the word “fun.”

“I never felt like I was forcing myself to do the homework,” she said. “I wanted to do it, and I wanted to learn.”

Besides, Britton said, she was really into the subject. “All my classes at MSU Denver have been Aviation, so it was fun to saturate myself in that learning,” she said. “It was very exciting stuff I was learning.”

It helped, she said, that her bosses at Urban Outfitters and a restaurant near Union Station were understanding and gave her flexible hours.

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An assignment during her junior year at Windsor Charter Academy in Windsor set her on a course to learn all that exciting stuff. “We were assigned to research a career,” she said. “And it was so random: My mom said, ‘You’d be good at air-traffic control.’”

Having a good friend whose father was an air-traffic controller meant Britton’s mother was familiar with the attributes that the high-stress, high-concentration job requires. Britton is sure she has those traits. “I’ve always been very organized and very planning-oriented,” she said. “Also, I’m very type-A and good with spatial awareness.”

And while she moved to Denver to finish her degree, the self-described introvert said she often went home to Windsor to hang out with friends. She did not, however, discuss her classwork with them. When she tries, she said, “My friends have no clue what I’m talking about.”

But they’ll have no trouble understanding this: She applied for an air-traffic-controller position this spring, scored “Well Qualified” on the Air Traffic Skills Assessment and this month received a tentative offer letter from the Air Traffic Organization.

That means her next step likely is to enter the Federal Aviation Administration’s lengthy and exacting training academy, something she’s confident her rigorous class schedule has prepared her well for.

Concurrent enrollment, sprinting through college — it’s not for everyone, Britton said. Whether or not you decide to rush headlong into a career, her advice to prospective students is simple: “Know yourself. Follow the best course of action for you.”

Learn more about concurrent enrollment at MSU Denver.