Year Graduated : 2018
Program : Aviation Maintenance Technology
Degree Earned : Associate
Name of Employer : Duncan Aviation
Location of Employer : Provo, UT
Job Title : Airframe Mechanic 1
Why did you select Spartan College and your program of study?
It was the only school near me that offered the certification I needed.
How did Spartan College successfully prepare you for your career?
My best teachers really helped me with the scientific concepts in aviation maintenance that I could not have gotten in my previous field. They helped me feel capable and prepared to adapt through testing and in depth lectures on aviation in the real world.
Please describe your career path and how you got to where you are today (Including degrees earned).
I became a professional musician at 16. I played in orchestra and followed that path through my bachelors and masters degrees. I played all over Europe and competed in international competitions with success…until my health took my path away from me. I could no longer free fall from gig to gig without health insurance and I needed to devote a lot of my time to exercise and healthy habits. Music didn’t allow for it. So I researched careers that I could pursue that played to my strengths (hard working, discipline, troubleshooting, critical thinking) but also supported my weaknesses (needed good benefits and an active lifestyle). I got a maintenance job working on draft beer systems before spartan to see if I was a good fit for that line of work. I did really well and found my new passions so I enrolled at spartan to pursue a more stable industry: aviation. I then worked for General Atomics for a year, where I got assigned to the production line and I got the opportunity to build the drones from the ground up—landing gear, wings, engine and all. That job was brief as we experienced massive layoffs but now I’m at Duncan Aviation in Utah and I’m liking it a lot. I’m hoping to take management courses so I can use my academic experience with my technical knowledge to effectively lead teams to success.