Navy veteran Jordan Stone sails to a new career with Lockheed Martin after graduating from the pilot Robotics and Semiconductor Technician program

Jordan Stone has life experience that few others can match. The Navy veteran began a new chapter of his life when he completed the Industrial Automation Technician – Mechatronics program with Valencia College Accelerated Skills training a few years back. He built on that training in the pilot Robotics and Semiconductor Technician program and now continues his legacy of serving the nation in his new role as a microelectronic operator at Lockheed Martin.

Stone got his first taste of Accelerated Skills Training in 2018. Between his time in the two programs at Valencia, Stone worked for a company that did flight simulators.

“I got to go to Okinawa, Japan for three weeks, which is like being in Hawaii. There is no rush to get anywhere because you are on an island,” Stone said. “From there I was able to work for Tesla and I did solar roofs.”

No stranger to Japan, Stone spent three years there stationed on the USS Essex. “We were in the Florida version of Japan; we were in the southernmost area. It was just beautiful on the other side of the mountain, there were these tiny islands popping up from the water, it was amazing,” Stone said. “It was fun for a Florida boy to be living on a mountain and it was a 20-minute walk to base.”

He still likes to close his eyes and think of the unique shapes poking out of the water below. But when he wasn’t enjoying the landscape, he was hard at work.

“I was an aviation firefighter,” Stone said. “I had a very stressful job and I constantly had to have my head on a swivel. It’s loud, anything can happen and you’re hot, you have a whole bunch of gear.”

Fast forward to 2023, finances are tight and Stone is going to get married. So, he decided to use the GI bill to go back to school.

“I saw Valencia had a Robotics and Semiconductor Technician program, and I was intrigued,” Stone said. “Then I found out it was the very first class and that makes in more fun.”

Still, money is an issue. “I’m pulling this massive weight with the VA to start processing the GI bill so I can go to school and have money,” Stone said at the time. “I’m sweating it out here. I’m in the process of looking for a part-time job. It’s a struggle, but I’ve struggled before and worked really hard to get a lot of stuff paid off, so I’m in a better spot than I was in 2018.”

With finances on the mind, Stone is grateful that his training at Valencia was funded by Bank of America, the City of Orlando and a Department of Economic Opportunity Robotics grant.

Even with the challenges, Stone is excited to have trained in a field that is becoming more important to the nation’s manufacturing sector. “If you look at what robotics can do it will make human life easier,” Stone said. “Instead of putting a human life at risk such as welding in a very small container, they have new machines that weld inside of pipes. You used to have to send a person in there with tons of oxygen and anything can happen.”

Stone, a former roofer among his past endeavors, knows the trials and tribulations of dangerous labor as he has been in hot conditions while bending his body repeatedly. He wanted to join a company that is doing stuff to help people. Stone has found a position at Lockheed Martin that not only helps people, but the nation that he has served.

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