Scholarship Is a Building Block for Future Engineer
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Some kids have playgrounds. Kaija Martin (’25) preferred makerspaces. She discovered the joy of building through the FIRST LEGO League and soon moved on to robotics competitions. As a teen, she expanded her high school curriculum to classes in electrical engineering and construction engineering at Western Maricopa Education Center (West-MEC), a program that provides career and technical education. Her passion for space exploration and aircraft design focused her interest in aerospace engineering.
Space sparked a curiosity she could explore in her own backyard, where her dad helped her set up a telescope. Her mother, a teacher, always encouraged her to follow her interests. As the nine-year-old who witnessed her first eclipse and kept journals of her observations moved on to earning scholarships to Embry-Riddle, her mother remained her biggest motivator.
“She told me that I may not be around a lot of women or people of color in my field, but she never told me no. I have always wanted to make her proud and that motivates me.”
This summer Martin, who is also a Boeing Scholar, will intern with the company in Saint Louis. She is excited about the opportunity to work in manufacturing engineering and the launch of her career.
“Working for Boeing is a goal, and I hope this gets my foot in the door and makes me a stronger candidate for more research opportunities and internships.”
The transition from student to manufacturing engineer-in-training should be easy given the time management skills Martin has sharpened. As a junior, she already balances her studies in demanding courses such as Computer-Aided Conceptual Design with responsibilities as a Student Government Association officer, duties as a Resident Assistant and writing for the student newspaper, Horizons.
“I have three calendars going, and every week, I sit down and set my top priorities, secondary priorities and third-level priorities. It usually goes pretty smoothly.”
Even when things don’t go quite as expected, she is resilient. In her freshman year, she was a group leader on an airplane design that hit a little turbulence.
“We had our ups and downs, but I thrived even when things didn’t go exactly as planned. Our goal was to create a CATIA drawing of an aircraft and get it fabricated at our fabrication lab. We encountered some unexpected hiccups with printing. Even with the pressures of a deadline and working things out with my team, it was still the most fun project I’ve done so far.”
Like many students in the aero track, Martin once dreamed of being an Air Force fighter pilot, but she developed a real appreciation for design. A particular favorite is the Northrop Grumman B-2, a stealth bomber first built in the 1990s that was far ahead of its time.
Martin says the J.R. Martin Scholarship is helping her become an equally innovative designer.
“I come from a household with a single mom, and as a teacher in Arizona, my mother doesn’t make a lot of money. The only way I could attend Embry-Riddle is with scholarships,” she explains. “The J.R. Martin Endowed Scholarship gives me a sense of relief financially, and that makes a big difference in [my] ability to succeed in school. It means a lot to me that I was chosen and that has really helped me make the most of my education.”