“I was a nerd in high school,” Amber Marek recalls.  “As a teenager, I thought I was just different.”  While attending Grand Rapids High School, Amber played in the band and made great grades.

Now a junior at Michigan Technological University, her feelings about school have changed.  “I was suddenly surrounded by people with similar passions and interests.  I found myself relating to many people.”

In three years, Amber has brown from feeling out of place in high school to being a confident and accomplished young woman ready to start a career in engineering—where the sky is the limit:  literally.  Enter Cirrus Design.

When Michigan Tech hosted its annual internship fair in spring 2007, Amber had no idea the future that would await her.  She hadn’t even planned on applying for an internship.  In fact, her unfinished resume sat on the desktop of her computer even though she promised herself she’d finish it.  Then, as her friends browsed the list of potential internship possibilities, one name caught her attention.

“When I saw Cirrus Design was on the list, I went out and bought fancy resume paper and finished my resume in an hour,” she recalled with a laugh.  “I bought a nice black jacket and ran into the job fair.  I don’t even remember what I said during the interview, but when I walked away, I felt I had the job.”

As it turns out, she got it.  Amber began her career in aerospace engineering that summer with Cirrus Design in Duluth.  It turned out to be a perfect match for Amber’s academic interests.

Amber quickly learned that the work place was quite different from the time she spent in the classroom.  She had to adjust quickly.  On her first day, her supervisor gave her a list of problems that needed solutions and set her to work.

“When I first got to Cirrus I thought my work was going to be like homework assignments: 1, 2, 3 this is how it goes,” she says. “At the beginning I was afraid of being wrong.”

By the end of the summer, it was clear to Amber that there was still a lot of work to do with her assignments concerning fuel systems.  Scheduled to return to Michigan Tech at the end of August, Amber ended up asking Cirrus if she could stay through the fall semester as a co-op student. They agreed.

Over the course of the six months she spent interning at Cirrus, Amber saw an evolution in herself as she was given more responsibility.  Her confidence grew.  She was assured enough to ask questions and develop her team-working skills.

“As an engineer you have to be able to admit when you are stumped and be able to come back to it with a fresh mind,” she said. “At Cirrus we had a foosball table in the office. You go and play for ten minutes and come back laughing. You take your mind off of the problem for a few minutes and new solutions appear.”

Through college and through her work experience with Cirrus Design, Amber has learned that answers are not always crystal clear in the field of engineering.  He enthusiasm, determination, and personal growth paid off in her engineering career path.  Ultimately, she was offered and accepted a permanent job with Cirrus Design.