Gary Hood:
CLASS OF 1983
Arkadelphia High SchoolClass of 1983
Arkadelphia, AR
Texas A&M University - ArchitectureClass of 1991
College station, TX
Gary's Story
Life
Hello! After high school I attended Texas A&M University. I graduated with a Bachelor of Environmental Design. After changing jobs for more years than I care to remember (my resume is WAY too long) I started working for an old college buddy of mine in Houston. I now am involved with installing control systems for power generation plants that use gas turbine generators. I am divorced and have two kids, Matthew, 12, and Danielle, 8. I still have a fetish for fast cars and things with wings. My email address is glhoodatearthlinkdotnet. (got that from Tara) :)
College
After figuring out that Mechanical Engineering and I didn't get along, I changed majors (for the third time at that) to Environmental Design (a 5 year college)...hence my status at graduation of being an 8th year senior. I had to work full time while going to school so for the last 3 years I went as a part-time student. My love of cars paid my way through College. I was either working on them or selling service for them. My friends were all Texas A&M Sports Car Club members. These guys and gals played hard together and made some of the most memorable times of my life. After graduation, there was not a lot of promising work to be had. I would have had to take a job in Houston or Dallas as a CAD draftsman and gone back to get my Masters in Architecture to be able to make bigger bucks but ...I was just thoroughly DONE with school. I t...Expand for more
oyed with the idea of owning my own automotive repair shop but didn't have the guts to take that leap. So I worked in the automotive industry until 1997. At that point I learned that there was a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) company that was hiring a general craftsman and pilot. Since I had been flying radio controlled models since I was 14, this line of work coincided with my much beloved hobby. I worked there for about a year and a half before taking a service advisors position with the local Dodge dealer. While working here, my best friend from college called to see if I would consider going to work with him. He convinced me that it was the right thing to do, so I started working with him immediately. I've been with BTEC Turbines for almost three years now and can't think of a better place to work. Now that you know my resume...
I like to think of my college experience as a life tutorial that instilled a discipline of knowing that you don't have to know everything as long as you know where to go to get the information you need. I realized early on that the professors that were teaching me the stuff I was supposed to use to get a great job weren't making the kind of money I wanted to make. My entrepreneurial streak is showing a bit here, I know, but I still don't think that college was a waste. Just being there allowed life-long friendships to be made and doors to be opened that wouldn't have otherwise.
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