Woman stands with her hand on an airplane propeller

Casandra Soto has always been interested in airplanes, and when she saw a San Bernardino Valley College flyer seeking aeronautics students, she took action. 

Soto spotted the advertisement while working at Amazon Air, and quickly got in touch with an SBVC counselor to learn more about the Aviation Maintenance Technician program. "As the questions started rolling, the more I realized, hey, this is something I’m interested in. Let me give it a try," she said. “Before I knew it, three years passed." 

During that time, she went on a field trip to Gulfstream and participated in national maintenance competitions with classmates. At one event, she connected with Alaska Airlines, which led to a job she will start after graduation. 

Soto’s journey to becoming an aircraft mechanic included driving from Perris for classes and taking advantage of exam vouchers and the BookSaver program. The financial support was a blessing, she said, along with networking opportunities at job fairs and competitions. 

“They helped me build up my resume and it’s probably the reason I was able to land a job with Alaska in the first place, because they helped me so much with all of these things,” Soto said.