UNDER THIRTY - Society of Manufacturing Engineers

John GiraldoAge: 25Sandvik CoromantFair Lawn, NJAlot of things had to happen for mechanicalUNDER THIRTYengineer John Giraldo to be able to get towhere he is today. Where he is, is SandvikCoromant’s Aerospace Application Center,where he works as a CAM Programmer, and where “hiscontributions...have been astounding,” according to hismanager, Sean Holt.How he got there is quite a story—in fact it’s a versionof the USA’s oldest story: that of someone comingto its shores to create a better life.It goes like this: John was four years old and fatherlesswhen his mother made the hard choice to leavehim and his little brother with grandparents while sheleft their home in Colombia to find work in the US. Itwasn’t until six years later, when he was ten, that Johnand his brother were able to join her here.John was expected to make the most of his schoolyears, and remembers school as being difficult at firstas he struggled to learn his subjects while concurrentlylearning to speak and write in English. In time he beganto excel in mathematicsand the sciences.College didn’t appearto be in the cards forJohn, however, giventhe family’s low income.Unwilling to give up hope, John attended collegerecruitment fairs anyway. During a college fair he metwith representatives of the New Jersey Institute of Technology’sEducational Opportunity Program, who saw hispotential and recruited him.Right after his high school graduation, John begana multi-week intensive summer academic enrichmentprogram, courtesy of NJIT. It was “a boot camp” for collegeprep, as John remembers it: “We were up at dawnand in classrooms and labs all day. We weren’t allowedto use cell phones or to contact our families except atset times...we stayed in dorms and followed curfews.We lived and breathed academics.”The discipline he learned that summer helped whenhe later had to balance a full course load at NJIT withtwo jobs—including an internship where he helped researchprocess improvements for a local manufacturer.After four years he graduated with a degree in MechanicalEngineering—the first member of his family to evergraduate college.“The most memorable moment in my life,” Johnsaid, “was accepting my diploma and looking out towhere I knew my family was sitting—and seeing thelook on my mother’s face.”Now, at the Aerospace Application Center, Johnhelps customers optimize their processes for makingaerospace parts. And during a statewide eventdedicated to building student awareness of careers inmanufacturing, Johngave tours and demonstrationsto hundredsof students.“Showing themthat manufacturing isso much more than just working with machines andgetting your hands dirty—that was rewarding,” Johnremembers. He has already proven to be an inspirationto at least one student, notes Sean Holt: “John’sbrother looks up to him as his role model.” Thatbrother is now in his third year at NJIT, with a major inmechanical engineering—the next chapter in this old,new story. ME"The most memorable moment in my life wasaccepting my diploma and looking out to whereI knew my family was sitting—and seeingthe look on my mother’s face."THIRTY UNDER THIRTY PROFILES22 ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | July 2013