Each year right after Christmas, my family and I would fly from our home in Atlanta to visit family in New Jersey. I remember always being excited and fascinated by the operations of the airport: the concourse, the gate area, the airplanes taking off outside the window, everything. One year, I told my father that I wanted to become an “airplane” when I grew up. He responded, “Would you like to go see the cockpit?” I had no clue what he was talking about but agreed to see. While disembarking the aircraft, the pilot allowed me to see inside the cockpit. Sitting down in the captain’s seat of that Delta MD-88 airplane, my imagination took off. From that moment, I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. At age 17, I obtained my private pilot license after six months of extensive flying and studying. I also worked at an aviation maintenance shop for 10 months as an assistant where I gained valuable mechanical skills and better understood airplane systems. Additionally, I am a member of the Civil Air Patrol as a senior member. These experiences have expanded my abilities and broadened my experience in varies areas of the aviation industry. Outside of aviation, I have worked in the restaurant industry for over four years (working as a dishwasher, Togo/expo manager, waiter, and food prep employee) and in the production industry working with soundboards, lightboards, and video switcher boards for church and school functions. I have gained valuable skills within these industries such as piloting, decision making, problem solving, communication, time management, training of employees/volunteers, production tech system maintenance and documentation, and customer service. Looking forward, I plan on applying to Delta Propel (if accepted, Delta will secure a job offer for the candidate once all flight training is completed). If accepted, I will continue my training at Auburn, instruct at Auburn post-graduation, and then fly for SkyWest Airlines before starting at Delta Air Lines.Skills• Piloting• Decision-Making• Problem Solving• Time Management• Teamwork• Aviation Maintenance/Systems • Customer Service• Adaptive to Change• System Documentation• Continually Striving to Learn