As a kid, I always felt curious when I looked at the sky and noticed large metal airplanes cruising through clear skies. They are so heavy, but in the air, they seem so light. Why is that?
My college major helped me understand exactly how it is possible for an airplane that can weigh more than 150,000 pounds to take off and fly in the air. Aerospace engineering teaches you how things fly and the tools you need to design or fix airplanes, rockets, space vehicles or satellites.
Last summer, I worked at an aerospace company in Phoenix, Arizona. I had the chance to work in a team as a flight test engineer, which means that I was flying on airplanes that were flown by pilots without passengers in order to see how they behaved when new technology was added to each plane. My team had to make sure the plane was safe and flying normally before the plane’s new technology could be sold.
That is only one job. There are many different jobs that relate to flying. Many engineers, not only aerospace engineers, are needed to ensure the safety of the aircraft. The best part about jobs in engineering is that everything is team-based and everything you do will be checked by someone else for safety reasons. When a project is completed it always feels great to celebrate the accomplishment with a team of people who worked on the project together.
Engineering falls under STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). I have a lot of passion for STEM because most of the things around you have been created or re-designed by people in this field. Go ahead! Take a look around you. The hinges on the doors, the pencils that you are using, even the production of the apple on your teacher’s desk has been through the hands of a person in STEM!
