Reversal of Fortune

Online Mechatronics Grad Makes the Most of Family’s American Dream

When Juan Gomez was 13 years old, his family was forced to flee its home in Colombia, South America. An architectural planner, his father was attempting to initiate some projects for the Colombian government when he incurred the wrath of anti-government guerrillas. With death threats hanging over them, the family sought asylum in the United States and settled in Miami.

Throughout high school and thereafter, Juan trained to become an airplane mechanic. He enjoyed the work, but it also made him realize that there was so much more he could do. He became keenly interested in mechanical engineering. So, he enrolled at his local community college and earned an associate’s degree.

“It was not easy. Without specific class times, I had to become very disciplined, but as they say, with great power comes great responsibility and this made me stick to a schedule if I was to be successful. This is probably the greatest personal achievement that the school brought to me.”

~Juan Gomez, Online Mechatronics Graduate

Armed with that degree and a great deal of on-the-job experience, Juan started his own company, Aero-Tross, a mechanical engineering consulting business offering such services as manufacturing drawings, maintenance tooling, tooling and testing capabilities, quality assurance support, and tooling documentation to meet FAA standards.

In order to grow his business and expand his services, Juan knew he would need to earn a bachelor’s degree, but a traditional classroom environment was out of the question. Between his business and commitments at his church, he began looking for an online option. He found it at ECPI University.

Juan enrolled and began working toward earning his Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronic Systems Engineering Technology with a concentration in Mechatronics. “It was just what I needed,” he says. This took me beyond mechanical engineering and gave an understanding into the way it is integrated with electronics and computer information systems.

“It was not easy. Without specific class times, I had to become very disciplined, but as they say, with great power comes great responsibility and this made me stick to a schedule if I was to be successful. This is probably the greatest personal achievement that the school brought to me.”

Juan was able to quietly slip back into Colombia for a visit recently and saw what his life could have been had his family not escaped. “I am very blessed,” he says. “God really gave me an opportunity.”

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