- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Veteran Looking Forward to Future Career as Engineer Exploring Renewable Energy

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 14:49:12 +0000

Victor Ruiz, a senior systems engineering major at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, has a lot to be thankful for. He’s a U.S. Air Force veteran with a beautiful wife and two young daughters. Now in his last semester as a systems engineering major, Ruiz is looking forward to a future career where he explores his passion for renewable energy. “As the world gets bigger, and there are more homes and buildings built that use more computers, lights, and phones, energy consumption will continue to boom,” he said. “I think people need to be educated more and learn to save what we have left on this world. People always assume energy is free and we can keep producing as much as we want at no cost, but it’s not the case.” A native of San Leandro, California, Ruiz graduated high school in 2006 and worked in an auto parts store “until a 6-foot, 6-inch mountain of a man walked into my auto parts store dressed in crisp Air Force Blues uniform and said, ‘Son, I am about to save your life.’” At 18, Ruiz joined the U.S. Air Force and was stationed at Little Rock Air Force Base. He worked as an aircraft loadmaster, earned an associate degree in applied science in aviation operations, and even met and married his wife, Alba, who he met at Cajun’s Wharf. Life was going well for Ruiz, who thought he would spend his whole life in the military and retire. Things changed after Ruiz’s first child, Zoё, was born in 2014. Ruiz had already been deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait, but the thought of leaving his newborn child was devastating. “Leaving to go fight a war was never hard for me. I accepted the fact that this is what came with the job,” Ruiz said. “The military turned this skinny boy from the suburbs of California into a man. The Air Force saved my life. It gave me goals, ambition, and a drive to never settle. I have never been terrified in my life except for one time. When I watched my 5-pound, 11-ounce baby girl come into this world, I was petrified. My baby was my world, and that’s when I knew I had to do the scariest thing imaginable. I had to leave the Air Force.” In 2014, Ruiz left the Air Force after eight years of service and moved his family to California and enrolled in college. However, life in California, with its expensive housing market and colleges, did not turn out well. He was only in his second semester at Ohlone College when he developed a devastating case of meningitis that left him unable to complete his classes. After he recovered, Ruiz and his family moved back to Little Rock, and he started at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock during fall 2015. With a strong belief that the world can no longer rely on fossil fuels as its main source of energy, Ruiz studies renewable energy and energy savings solutions “to put myself in a position to leave the world a little better than I found it.” His senior capstone project involved the development of a solar-powered irrigation system. Ruiz appreciates the small class sizes in the College of Engineering and Information Technology, something he wasn’t used to in California. “The small class sizes really make the learning environment intimate and student driven. Instructors are able to move at individuals’ pace making sure no one is left behind,” Ruiz said. “The passion EIT professors show for their students keeps me coming back every semester. Coming from California and large college classes really makes me appreciate the time and care everyone at the EIT college spends with the students.” He is also thankful to Amy Frets, EIT director of student services and retention, whose “mentoring and motivation makes you believe that when everything seems hopeless it can still be done.” As a full-time, nontraditional student, Ruiz said he has faced the challenges of working two, sometimes three, jobs while attending school in order to support his family, which now includes a second daughter, 1-year-old Khloё. “��Vlog��ý Little Rock is an institution that allows people like me who are getting up at 4 a.m. to run a truck route and then go to class all day to then go load and unload trucks until 10:30 at night,” Ruiz said. “A student that raises a 4-year-old and 18-month-old baby in their free time. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock is an institution that does something no other college around here does. It gives nontraditional people that struggle to survive hope – hope for a better tomorrow. Hope that at the end of it all, that once you earn that degree, your dreams can become a reality. So last but not least, thank you ��Vlog��ý Little Rock for making my dreams a reality.” Ruiz is grateful to staff members of the Military Student Success Center including Cheryl Kleeman, assistant director of military student success, and Kathy Oliverio, director of military student success. “The Military Student Success Center has been vital to my success during my time at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. It is often thought of as a sanctuary for military students where they can share their college experience, troubles, and accomplishments. I owe all my success and complete turnaround in my GPA, from failing to three straight semesters on the Dean’s List, directly to the MSSC,” Ruiz said. “The Office of Financial Aid has made returning back to school feasible, affordable, and a reality. As a father with two beautiful little girls, I thought I could never be able to afford going back to school while providing for my family. Financial Aid’s support and easy access to scholarships has really eased the stress of college.” Ruiz is now completing an internship as an assistant energy engineer at Entegrity, an energy consulting business where he hopes to work after his graduation in December 2018. He also plans to pursue a master’s degree in systems engineering. In the upper right photo, Victor Ruiz is shown with solar panels that he works with at his internship as an assistant energy engineer at Entegrity. Photo by Ben Krain.

Veteran finds love and success at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 21:16:00 +0000

When J.T. Poole graduated high school in 2005, he joined the U.S. Air Force and served his country as an emergency medical technician and military police officer in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Iraq. By 2009, Poole decided it was time to go to college to finish his education. In the middle of his third semester at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Poole’s college career came to a crashing halt. On Oct. 1, 2010, Poole’s right lung collapsed, and he was given a rare diagnosis of a spontaneous pneumothorax. “My doctor said he had only seen it once in his life before,” Poole recalled. “I was in the hospital for 17 days and had seven surgeries. I remember looking at my mom at my bedside and asking her if I was going to die. She had to lie to me and tell me no, but she was a nurse and knew how people looked when they were dying.” For Poole, his illness was devastating. He had to drop out of college, was on bed rest for nearly two months while recovering, and faced large health bills. “I was 23 at the time, and it was a life-changing experience,” he said. “I took two years off to get financially secure again. I went through a state of depression. In addition to just getting out of the military and adjusting to civilian life and almost dying, it was a hard time.” In 2012, he moved in with his father, John Poole, who encouraged him to go back to college. “In 2013, my dad passed away from Lou Gehrig’s disease. It was an eight-year battle of watching him fall apart,” Poole said. “I came back to Little Rock to help my dad. I made a deal with my dad that I could stay with him for free as long as I went to college. When he passed away, I made a commitment to him as well as myself.” Since starting at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock again in 2012, Poole has been on a mission to complete his Bachelor of Science in Biology with a concentration in ecology and organismal biology. He will graduate Dec. 16 in the Jack Stephens Center with the fall Class of 2017. Poole’s most memorable academic achievement was his participation in a National Science Foundation-funded summer research experience at Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. Poole was one of only 10 recipients selected nationwide for the program, where he researched Boechera stricta populations, a flowering plant from the mustard family that produces chemical compounds to defend against predators. Poole’s mentor, Janet Lanza, a professor of biology who helped him apply for the summer research program, described Poole as self-disciplined and a perfect gentleman. “J.T. knew how to learn, was willing to devote the time needed to do well in his course, and had the maturity to balance long-term goals with short-term, immediate gratification desires,” Lanza said. He also visited San Salvador Island in the Bahamas earlier this year to research mangrove trees, small trees and shrubs that grow in the intertidal regions of the tropical and subtropical coastlines. “These trees are very important because when hurricanes come through, these trees protect the shoreline from erosion,” he said. “Over time, they have been harvested, and the trees are declining because the ocean water is getting more acidic. We went with the idea of learning more about these trees so we could preserve them for the future.”

Finding love at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Poole likes to tell people that he and his fiancé, Amber Mitchell, a 2016 graduate of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock with a bachelor’s degree in biology, had instant chemistry; they did meet in chemistry class after all. “We met in chemistry during the summer, and the next semester we had another class together,” he said. “Because my father was a tennis player, and she wore tennis skirts, I went up to her and asked her if she played tennis with the intention of starting a conversation about tennis. She said, ‘No,’ and I said, ‘Oh’ and turned around and walked away.” After an awkward start, Poole got a second chance at the girl who got away. “Fast forward two semesters, and we had a teaching class together. I saw the pretty girl that I failed to communicate with a year earlier. We went on a date and 2 1/2 years later we are engaged. We are literally polar opposites in a lot of ways, and I think that stabilizes us,” Poole said. Poole and Mitchell got engaged in March, and the two have plenty of activities in common. In 2016, they helped co-found the Campus Garden Alliance. Both served as president of the student organization. “Amber and I are both vegetarians and like to grow our own food, and we like to share that with others,” he said. “We harvested almost 700 pounds of sweet potatoes this year and donated it to the Trojan Food Pantry and sold 200 pounds to a Little Rock restaurant, The Root. It’s fun to share the campus garden experience with the younger students and see them being passionate about growing food.” Poole and Mitchell are now running their own business, Pawfessional Pet Services, offering pet walking and sitting services. Poole said they have doubled their clients since August alone. Poole plans to spend the next year growing the business full time before starting graduate school to get a degree in ecology and evolutionary biology. In the upper right photo, J.T. Poole and Amber Mitchell walk their dogs. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III/��Vlog��ý Little Rock Communications.

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

Veteran Looking Forward to Future Career as Engineer Exploring Renewable Energy

Veteran finds love and success at ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Veteran finds love and success at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock