Marine Corps Mechanics Next Step for Poole
April 12, 2017
Senior Bobby Poole plans to put the skills he has developed in auto shop to work after graduation by joining the Marine Corps.
Poole said, “I’m going into the Marine Corps first, but in the Marines I’ll be an aviation mechanic. I’ll be working on aircrafts. Then after that I plan on going to automotive school and get a job in that. Going into the Marines would give me an education that wouldn’t really cost me anything and I’ll be able to give back to my country [the USA,] which is something that’s really important to me.”
Poole said that he has always liked cars, so when he had to opportunity to take auto shop he jumped on it. He added that auto shop is the profession that he really wants to pursue, and working with cars will most likely become his career, but he has other plans for his post-high school life as well. “I started in Intro to Auto, but I already knew a pretty decent amount about cars and everything so it was a little easy for me, and now I’m in Advanced Auto,” said Poole. “I’ve always liked cars and working with my hands because when I was little I played with a lot of Legos, I was always good at doing things with me hands and building things, so that’s [also] why I like the wood shop.”
While he enjoys much of the auto shop experience, Poole admits that it can be challenging. When projects begin to take a long time, Poole occasionally becomes impatient. He said that sometimes things can get frustrating, especially having to work on the same thing and not being able to get it done. However, according to Poole, he has found that to relieve his stress it works best to step away from the project and go do something else for a couple hours. After that he comes back or takes some time to think about the project he is doing and makes a plan.
Wood shop, which he has been taking since 7th grade, is more of a hobby of his. In his freshman year at Campolindo he took an Intro to Wood Shop class that taught the basics, and since his sophomore year he has been taking Advanced Wood Shop, which is where he can take on more challenging projects.
Wood shop teacher Barry Weiss said, “He’s become pretty much a master turner, he’s really focused on the lave. He’s also very dedicated and is always working. He also tries new things and his designs on his projects have become more and more complex as time goes on.” The lathe is a spinning tool used carve blocks of wood into specific shapes and require a high level of skill; Poole uses it frequently in his various projects.
