Success Stories
Brian Alba -Engineering Student, Virginia Tech (Class of
2005)
| High
School: Marion Senior High ('01) |
| Career
& Technical Ed. Program Studied: Drafting I
& II (at Smyth Career & Technology Center) |
| Additional
Studies/Training: Virginia Tech (B.S. in Industrial
& Systems Engineering) |
Designing His Future
Months before college graduation, Brian Alba already had
a job waiting for him as a Process Design Analyst. He attributes
that opportunity in large part to the CTE Drafting classes
he took in the 11th and 12th grades. After his junior year
of high school, Brian got a summer internship with an architectural
firm—which in turn led to an internship with a cabinetry
manufacturer. “All my future jobs sprang from the drafting
experience I gained in my CTE classes. Had I not taken drafting,
I would not have gotten the internships … or the experience
… that made me ‘recruitable’ for post-graduation
jobs.”
Kyle Konopnicki - Engineer
| High School: Tabb (’03) |
| CTE Courses: Technology Education |
| Additional
Studies/Training: BS/Mechanical Engr. (Va. Tech) |
A Calculated
Career
You might say that Kyle Konopnicki was led into
an engineering career by robots. In 8th grade, he
competed in a TSA competition and earned took
home the title of State Robotics Champion. From that
achievement onward, Kyle was on an engineering track
that ultimately led him to Virginia Tech – where he
was on the champion-ship team at the International
Intelligent Ground Vehicle robotics competition.
Today, he’s a nuclear propulsion engineer with a major
aerospace contractor.
Kyle credits his high school studies for providing
skills that served him throughout his engineering
education. “I took AutoCAD classes in high school,
and it was a big advantage having those skills. In
college, when we did team assignments/projects, I was
always the one doing the drawings for the assignments.
And ever since then, it’s always been easier to learn
other programs that are similar to AutoCad.
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