Current Project:
A350 Composite PDS Edge Frames
Since January of 2020, I have been leading the development and implementation of Composite door surround edge frames to replace the Titanium ones currently on the product. This is an eight-figure, multi-year project requiring the involvement of essentially every Spirit function, including a major Research and Technology effort.
Spirit will use an automated fiber placement process similar to the one from Premium Aerotech shown below… with some Spirit secret sauce applied of course!
Complete History
Wichita Eagle Paper Route
My first unofficial “job” was helping my mom deliver Wichita Eagle newspapers on Sundays and holidays. Contrary to the old-timey image of a paperboy throwing papers from his bike, I rode in the back of my mom’s van and was responsible for keeping her bucket of papers in the front seat loaded so she could continuously drive and throw them out the window. This was mainly on Sundays since the Sunday paper was heavier and many subscribers only got the Sunday paper each week.
I was paid what you might call a beefed up allowance for my efforts, and even as a kid saved a huge portion of my proceeds, though I did splurge occasionally and fondly remember going to Toys R’ Us to purchase a PlayStation 1 and accompanying copy of Gran Turismo with my own earned money. I was also regularly treated to a donut or fast food breakfast after the routes were finished. Call it a perk.
The Eagle was a family affair. My mom had a delivery route, my Grandpa Joe was a security guard at the building, my Grandma Olive was in Data Processing and Payroll, and my Grandpa Charles owned and operated the trucking company that moved the printed bundles from the print shop to distribution centers for drivers to pick up and take on their routes. Most of the members of my extended family worked at the Eagle in some capacity for some time.
YMCA Lifeguard
My first “real” job was as a lifeguard at the North Wichita YMCA. This was an absolutely perfect job for a high school student. The hours matched my schedule: full-time during the summer, and part-time evenings during the school year. It allowed me to have some spending money and beef up my savings, and the ancillary benefits of working at a pool as a teenager are fairly obvious. Look at that sun-kissed sweetheart.
On top of the major fun factor, it offered professional benefits appropriate to a first job – working with other people, learning to communicate with supervisors, understanding rules and regulations, customer interaction, exercising authority, and the like. It also had the distinct benefit of requiring CPR and First Aid training, which are some key life skills that extend well beyond my time in the sun.
Wallace Scholarship and DSI Semi-Finalist
Of course, during my lifeguard days, I was also a high school student making plans for college. Those plans would solidify thanks to a pair of significant scholarships I would receive my Senior year. Wichita State University holds a number of scholarship competitions – events where qualifying candidates (usually based on some combination of GPA and extracurricular activity) would go for interviews, a team activity, an improvised essay – and a combination of student and faculty judges would select winners to be awarded scholarships.
I was fortunate to win large amounts of scholarship money from two of these competitions. I was a Top 25 finisher (out of 300+ highly qualified participants) at the Distinguished Scholarship Invitational – the largest and broadest scholarship competition offered – which awarded me $8,000 for tuition and fees. I was also one of fifteen recipients of the Dwane and Velma Wallace Scholarship for Engineering, which awarded me $15,000 for tuition and fees, and also introduced me to the Wallace Scholars student association, where I met many of my best college friends and study partners. Senior year of college, I would also become the President of the Wallace Scholars. Giving the speech at the Wallace Scholars annual graduation dinner in front of Velma Wallace herself remains one of the most cherished moments of my collegiate career.
During college, I lived at home with my parents to keep costs (and distractions) at a minimum. I’m very privileged to have supportive parents who let me do this and also began treating me as an adult during this time. Thanks to these scholarships and the minimal cost of living at home, my 4 year Mechanical Engineering degree cost less than I had accrued in scholarships. I’m proud and grateful to say that I got paid to go to college. I recognize the rarity and enormous future advantage that this conveys, especially for someone of my generation.
411 Operator
Backtracking a bit, after receiving the two major scholarships, I quit my job as a lifeguard in order to focus on my college studies as it was an entirely new environment and my scholarships depended on maintaining good academic standing (the $23,000 in scholarships was a far bigger financial impact than the $8/hr or so I was making at the Y). However, after comfortably sailing through my first year of college, I was ready to start padding my savings again, preparing for the real launch into independence.
Circa 2008, the internet was not yet ubiquitous in every pocket. A service existed called “411”, run by a company called the Knowledge Generation Bureau, or KGB. Who chose that branding, I will never know. I got a customer service operator job there, and to this day consider it one of my most formative professional experiences.
I’ve always been a pretty good communicator – public speaking, debate, flirting… all of these came pretty naturally to me. In part, that skill in communication was what helped me win the big scholarships I did.
Leveraging that, I was able to add customer service to my repertoire. I learned how to deescalate an angry customer, how to clarify the requests of an unclear one, and how to have a positive interaction in the time frame of twenty seconds. I also learned how to cut losses – in a job where I talked to upwards of 1,000 people a day, there were bound to be some… let’s say unpleasant folks. I’m a firm believer that, far from being “entry-level” jobs, every person in the developed world should do a turn in customer service, retail, or food service. Those who minimize those jobs have never had one or don’t remember the burden of dealing with the public.
Nonetheless, I quickly became very skilled at all aspects of this job. There was a salary planning and retention exercise at one point during my time here, and I was rated the #1 overall operator (of 200+) in the building based on metrics for call quality, speed, and customer satisfaction. All built twenty seconds at a time.
Aging Aircraft – NIAR (National Institute for Aviation Research)
After getting some engineering credit hours under my belt, I started to look for a job that would build my credentials within my field. A close friend and fellow Wallace Scholar obtained a job at the Aging Aircraft lab at NIAR – an aviation research entity located at Wichita State but with heavy involvement in the local aerospace industry.
The job was to disassemble, analyze, and document sections of the KC-135 tanker in order to find fatigue and damage hotspots and extend the life of the fleet.
