Business graduate takes career to new heights in the Air Force

Ever since Finn Kirkpatrick was in middle school, he dreamt of becoming a pilot. What he didn’t know when he enrolled at CWU three years ago was that so many other people shared his passion for flight.

The popularity of Central’s aviation program presented Kirkpatrick with a difficult decision: put his name on the waiting list and take a gap year, or move forward with his bachelor’s degree.

That’s when he heard about the Air Force ROTC program.

“I found out you don’t need to have a pilot’s license to go into the Air Force, so I decided that I would finish my business degree and wait until after graduation to learn how to fly,” said Kirkpatrick, who completed his business administration degree, with a specialization in finance, last month. “That turned out to be a great decision for me because the ROTC program and the College of Business are both amazing.”

Kirkpatrick departed for Columbus, Mississippi, this week to begin his 10-year commitment in the Air Force pilot program. He will spend about two months in Pueblo, Colorado, for his initial flight training before returning to Mississippi for the final 18 months of the program.

Fortunately, he’s not entering the military with zero flying experience. He has already logged about 25 hours of flight time after receiving a You Can Fly scholarship through the ROTC program during his first year at CWU. After focusing on his studies for the past couple of years, he believes he’s ready to take the next step as a pilot.

“I haven’t flown much the past couple of years, but I know the basics,” said Kirkpatrick, a former Running Start student at North Thurston High School who earned his associate’s degree at South Puget Sound Community College. “I’m really looking forward to the next two years in the Air Force because they will teach me everything I need to know to become a professional pilot.”

Flying will occupy a large portion of Kirkpatrick’s time for the next few years, but he also expects to tap into his business administration knowledge in the Air Force.

“The leadership and management skills I learned at CWU will transfer really well,” he said. “It was interesting how much the lessons we learned in my management classes lined up with what they were teaching us in ROTC.”

Kirkpatrick added that he enjoyed learning about the “people side of things” more than the numbers. Even though he excelled in his finance and economics classes at CWU, he believes he can make an even larger impact as a leader.

“One of the most important things I learned was how to function within a team and guide others where they need to go to be successful,” Kirkpatrick said. “You also learn how to follow your leaders and not step on their toes. I feel like those skills are going to serve me well in the Air Force and in business.”

Kirkpatrick credited Air Force ROTC Assistant Professor JonCharles Tenbusch and Aerospace Studies Professor Joel Hearn for teaching him how to maximize his potential, both as a student and as a leader.

“The military program at CWU is great; they really know how to push you,” Kirkpatrick said. “But it was also a really positive experience. I would genuinely recommend this program to anyone. Our professors showed us that if you work hard, you have a good chance of getting the job you want.”

Now that college is in his rearview mirror, Kirkpatrick feels like he has learned everything he needs to build a successful future.

Even if he doesn’t end up flying for his entire career, he has created a solid backup plan for himself.

“I learned a lot of transferrable skills in the College of Business, and that’s really going to pay off for me down the road,” Kirkpatrick said. “That training will be extremely valuable for me when it comes to working with people. No matter what I end up doing later in my career, it will give me something to fall back on.”