Dennis Manzano

Graduate Dennis Manzano, loved working with his hands fixing cars. Then one day one of his friends told him about Spartan College. Dennis realized that even though he doesn’t like to fly in planes that he would still love to learn to fix them.

Today, Dennis works as an Aircraft Structural Mechanic for Northrop Grumman. He recommends Spartan College because of their hands-on approach to learning and group projects.

Transcript:

I always was very useful of my hands. Parents’ cars, families’ cars, friends’ cars, I'd be the type of person to try to get in there, try to fix the problem myself before I call mechanic. And at some point my friends started going to Spartan College – he told me about it. I love aircrafts, never was much of a fan for flying in them, but I told myself, “I'll be more than happy to fix them.” And then next thing you know is like, when can I start.

What the instructors emphasize in this school, you had to pick up a maintenance manual, see what the problem is, troubleshoot. These are the operations that you can check. That's one of the biggest things that I can take from coming to Spartan, that I can take on to my new career.

Starting at Northrop Grumman. I'm working on the F-18, on the structure components of the aircraft. I was more of a keep-to-myself, before coming here. Spartan pushes that, no matter how well you think you can do things on your own, you're going need people to lean on, to help (you), to ask for advice to get the job done.

It's not one of those traditional lectures, like other schools, where you probably fall asleep in class. No, these guys are pretty interactive. They’ll crack jokes. They'll get you into the lecture, they want you to learn.



Twenty-four hours ago, I was too busy turning in projects: my last project, my last exams. Make sure I was able to walk the stage today. So, I've been trying to take everything one step at a time.

Take what you learn here. I mean, it’s the smaller things. Things are, you might think is irrelevant at first, take it with you outside to the field. And then you're going to see how much that's gonna help you make your life easier.