When Conoco’s corporate airplane, the Embraer 135, a Brazillian aircraft, makes its daily scheduled flights to Houston and back, Marvin W. Janda of Ponca City helps to make it all possible. Before this corporate pilot began his career, he got his initial start in Pioneer Technology Center’s machine tool program. That is why he is a CareerTech champion. Champions are alumni of programs or student organizations of Oklahoma's career and technology education system, who have found success in a profession and attribute much of that success to their CareerTech experience. Janda has been employed as a corporate pilot for Conoco since January 1999. He flies the Embraer 135, a 37-passenger aircraft that shuttles Conoco corporate employees between Houston and Ponca City. Depending upon his schedule, Janda typically begins his day at 5 a.m. with occasional flights at 4 p.m. Janda describes his job as “one in a million.” “This is a very rare job and I have truly been blessed ,” Janda said. “I owe a lot to my parents who supported me when I decided to go to flight school in Macon, Ga. I am also grateful for the training that I received early on in my career in Pioneer Technology Center’s machine tool program.” Janda has been anything but traditional, especially when it came to getting his education. He describes his high school days as being a little different from other students. “I wasn’t involved in clubs or organizations and wasn’t thinking about going on to college right out of high school,” he said. During his junior and senior years, Janda worked to complete the machine tool technology program. In his senior year, before leaving the program, he landed a job at Precision Tool and Die owned by Greg Niessen in Ponca City. Although Janda was enjoying the job using his skills, he wanted more. “I still had another dream that I wanted to pursue—aviation,” Janda said. So he joined the U.S. Navy, as an avionics technician. There, Janda spent time working on SH60B Seahawk helicopters. When his tour in the Navy was over, he enrolled at Southeastern Flight Academy in Macon, Ga., earning his flight instructor certificates and commercial licenses. On his return to Oklahoma, Janda attended Northern Oklahoma College (NOC) then transferred to Oklahoma State University, graduating with a degree in aviation management. Janda completed more hours as a flight instructor at the Blackwell /Tonkawa airport. He also continued to build more flight hours at Bliss Industries flying a Piper Arrow and a Navajo Chieftain twin-engine plane for three years. Janda is a strong believer in following your dreams even if it is not the conventional way. “My approach was definitely not the traditional way to get an education!” he said. “I think back to my experience and training in the machine tool program, and can say that the skills I learned there really helped broaden me. Even though I am not working as a machinist, I still use my skills by working on home projects. By choosing the route that I did, I’ve had so many valuable experiences and that includes the time that I spent at Pioneer Technology Center.” Related Link Pioneer Technology Center Conoco
	posted 5/23/2003	Story:Janet Taber, Communications Officer Pioneer Technology Center Email: janett@pioneertech.org

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