AUSTINTOWN — An Austintown Fitch High School junior will spend this summer earning his private pilot’s license and says it is just one small part of his career plan.

Xojier Lewis, 16, a member of Fitch’s JROTC program, is one of only 170 cadets worldwide selected to participate in an intensive eight-week summer program that will earn him full certification to fly private aircrafts and instruct others how to do the same.

Col. Kevin Riley (USAF Ret.), senior aerospace science instructor for Fitch’s JROTC program, said the flight academy was started several years ago by the aerospace industry and United States Air Force to address the national shortage of pilots. He said the competitive worldwide program, which also welcomes American students from Germany and the Pacific, has been “extremely successful.”

Over 800 students applied, but Riley said the academy is not for just anyone interested in flying.

“These are individuals with strong character and abilities,” he said. “They have to be outgoing and well rounded. These are individuals above their age group. They’re what we call the cream of the crop. So, this 16-year-old is far above 16.”

Riley said it speaks volumes that Lewis was one of only four students selected from Ohio, a state with a rich history in aeronautics.

More than that, said Sgt. Tom Marhulik (USAF Ret.), Fitch’s program itself is only four years old.

“For someone to achieve something like this in a program that is only four years old, for us it is a very big deal,” he said.

Marhulik said they are not surprised Lewis made the cut. Lewis signed up for the program his freshman year after developing an interest in a military career in eighth grade.

“He’s an exceptional student,” he said. “He goes above and beyond when it comes to taking care of matters, and he’s very gifted. He’s one that we definitely rely on because of who he is and what he’s like.”

Still, Riley said the academy is not a small undertaking even for a student like Lewis.

“The intensiveness of next summer, I don’t know if he’s realized how intense it’s going to be,” he said. “It will be extremely intense all day, every day for 8 weeks. He’s going to be very busy.”

Lewis said he is not concerned.

“It’s always been something I really wanted to do, so when they said there was an opportunity I just went for it,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it. I’m not really not nervous about it. Maybe just getting to it, but actually doing it isn’t something I’m nervous about.”

Lewis said being a pilot isn’t necessarily his career plan.

“It’s just something I wanted to use to help me through life, as another skill I have,” he said. “I figure having a pilot’s license will help me with whatever job I get.”

After high school, Lewis plans to enlist in the Army, where he has already identified the job he wants, in what the military calls “psyops.”

GoArmy.com defines psychological operations — or “Psyops” as a field for communications experts who persuade allies and enemies alike to cooperate with U.S. military forces.

Lewis learned Arabic from his grandparents as a child. His grandmother was from Yemen and his grandfather from Egypt. His father spoke enough French to pique Lewis’s interest so that he studied it in school and became fluent.

Lewis said that if he decides to pursue a full Army career, he intends to become a Green Beret — the Army’s elite special forces unit.

Two dozen universities with flight programs participate in the academy, and Lewis will have to wait to find out where he will be attending.