When JohnDavid Lancaster was in fifth grade, his mother was laid off because she didn’t have a college degree. But she unmistakably modeled the value of education when she went back to school full time to earn her degree in nursing while working a full-time job and a part-time job and taking care of Lancaster and his sister. By the time he was in ninth grade, his mom had completed her degree and taught her children a powerful lesson about tenacity. Her experience also showed Lancaster how important a degree would be to get the kind of job he wanted.
There was never a question of whether Lancaster would attend college. It seemed his mom and grandma already had made that decision. Grandma Judy, a pillar in Lancaster’s life, was always there with a warm meal or advice on diving into the stock market. “From a young age, she encouraged me to have a business mindset in the world around me,” Lancaster says. It was Grandma Judy who took Lancaster and his sister to spend time with their great-grandpa JB. During these weekend trips, Lancaster was able to explore the outdoors and ask “tons” of questions. His family encouraged that curiosity and gave him old air conditioners, microwaves, and vacuums to take apart and analyze. They told him he should be an engineer. Since he had no idea what that meant, he googled “engineer,” and “mechanical engineer” popped up first. “Maybe I’ll do that,” he thought as a young teen.
When Lancaster was a senior at Bartlesville High School in Bartlesville, Okla., he had an internship at ConocoPhillips. There, he had the chance to explore the wide world of professional engineering and learn about the different specializations. “I met with managers regularly, and their guidance led to my decision to major in electrical engineering,” Lancaster says. “I also got another great piece of job advice at CP that I kept with me: target the companies you want to work for.”
But the next decision for Lancaster was about college. He was looking for an affordable school with a great engineering program. A friend recommended the University of Arkansas, and after touring the campus and learning more about the program, Lancaster decided this was the right place for him.
In his sophomore year, Lancaster joined AISES and was able to attend the 2018 National Conference on a travel scholarship. He learned that Intel, one of his top job targets — actually his dream target — would be at the conference. Lancaster knew he had to connect. He made the most of the opportunity and bonded with the recruiter, coming away enthralled with the stories he heard about working at Intel. He landed an internship, and the following summer was on his way to Intel’s global office in Oregon.
Initially, Lancaster was a bit intimidated when his boss showed him a computer motherboard and told him he needed to inventory every part of it and understand how it all works. Lancaster developed a finesse for asking questions without interrupting people. He got in early, learned his colleagues’ schedules, and was encouraged by his managers to set up one-on-ones with people throughout the company. He met with at least four people each week. “I learned so much and made some amazing connections,” Lancaster says. “I continue to be mentored by the person I met at the AISES conference. That’s been remarkable.”
After his internship, Lancaster learned that he had won the Intel Growing the Legacy Scholarship through AISES, making him doubly appreciative of the connection between AISES and Intel — and his connection to both. His time at Intel also helped Lancaster realize that he would like to pursue a master’s degree in electrical engineering, and possibly a PhD as well. “I want to help design the electronics of tomorrow,” he says. “I’m not 100 percent sure what that looks like, and I’m open to learning about new design roles. But for now, autonomous vehicles and machine learning are two areas that sound really cool to me.”
Lancaster also sees a possible MBA in his future. “Hopefully,” he says, “one day as an executive at a major corporation, I will be making decisions that could dramatically change the world for the better.”
