“I first became interested in aircraft maintenance when I was in my high school robotics club,” says Marissa Estebanez. “That’s when I realized I can’t just sit in a cubicle and do the same job all day for the rest of my life.”

A 2021 graduate of PIA Myrtle Beach, Estebanez is an AMT for South Carolina Avionics Services LLC. Her days are filled with new discoveries, as she gets to work on a wide variety of aircraft: “In just a few months, I’ve already worked on general aviation (GA), experimental, and vintage aircraft, as well as helicopters, float planes, and v-tails. Every day I get to work on something different, and that’s my favorite part of my job.”

While Estebanez enjoyed her hands-on maintenance classes at PIA, one of her most helpful experiences is one many students might overlook: “At PIA Myrtle Beach, we got to perform sections of a mock ‘annual.’ This helped me get comfortable with paperwork and logbook entries, which I now do every single day. I’m so thankful to the PIA teachers and staff for giving me such a wonderful and valuable learning experience.”