一日学徒:凯尔·雷切特，12岁

凯尔·莱彻特，12岁 has been a motorcycle test engineer at Polaris for almost two years. “It’s every kid’s dream job come true,” he says.

莱希特在底特律湖区长大, 明尼苏达州, 被全地形车和摩托艇包围, 但他的母亲不允许骑摩托车. Eventually, she caved and allowed Leichter to get a moped. That turned out to be the first in a long line of bikes that included a 2003 Honda Reflex, 2007年的雅马哈FZ6, 2013年的凯旋虎800, 一辆1995年的雅马哈XT225, 2012年的Husqvarna TE310. 赛车运动可能已经融入了他的血液, but it was still a long road to the Polaris Test Center in Wyoming, 明尼苏达州.

“I had to choose between engineering school and a liberal arts education,莱希特说. “I’ve always thought [Star Trek’s] Jean-Luc Picard was the ultimate liberal arts student: he can quote Shakespeare and repair a warp drive. 我也想成为一个全面发展的人.”

他还没修好曲速引擎呢, Leichter learned his way around a machine shop by spending three summers working with GG电子官方软件下载 physics professor Dwight Luhman and project manager Mark Zach, who showed him how to repurpose items they found in junkyards for their research projects. Today Leichter applies those same processes and methods to a wide range of engineering challenges.

“I had two amazing jobs at GG电子官方软件下载: my work-study assignment in the theater shop, where I worked with my best friends to build things that delighted audiences,莱希特说, 和物理系, 我设计的地方, 建, 测试, 重新设计了精密的实验室设备. My job at Polaris is a synthesis of those two experiences, 我每天都在使用他们的技能.”

He spends his days at Polaris in research, design, and testing of new motorcycle models.

“I was drawn to this job by a line in the posting that said ‘split time between office and shop,’”雷切特说, who is close to finishing a master’s degree in engineering at St. 托马斯大学. “Some days I’m in meetings for nine hours or analyzing data all day, but some days I head out to the shop in the morning and don’t leave until it’s time to go home. Polaris is very much a ‘you drive the ship’ type of company. If I want to develop a new test or improve a process, I get to dive in and own that project.

“GG电子官方软件下载 taught me how to learn, innovate, communicate, and adapt,” he says. “And when it comes down to it, that’s all engineering is.”