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Antigone Sharris is a full-time faculty member of the Engineering Technology Team at Triton College. She is also faculty lead, NFPA Fluid Power Fast Track Hub Site; faculty advisor, Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society; and mentor to the Team 2151 Robotics Team.

Michelle: Education is such a big topic today. And, of course, getting people into STEM careers as well. To start off with, could you tell us how you yourself got into engineering?

Antigone: Well, as a kid, my dad, I ‘d help him out. And I gave him enough black thumbs from  me helping around the house.

When you come from nothing, it helps because you have to repair everything. So, I helped him out. Later on, I went to Lane Technical High School, where, as a freshman, I was in the shop class, woodshop, and everyone had to take shop. It was a requirement, not an elective. So, I took woodshop.

I also took commercial art. I love to draw anyways and I got a chance to see how I can take my drawing skills into a building environment. And I found I love doing both. So, the outcome was I enjoyed what I was doing. I was lucky. My senior year, I was in what's called [the] Industrial Cooperative Program, and I worked for Century Metal as an intern, a high school kid in work study. And Janet Kaiser was my boss. She's the owner of Century Metal.

So, I saw her in the front office. I said, “I can do that.” Not her job, but it being in manufacturing, I was like, “I can see myself in this environment. I see her in it.” So, she was like my first inspiration. I enjoy doing this and I like this. I want to stay in manufacturing. And then the rest of us went to college. Back and forth. But the whole time I was working at something in industry. So, ultimately then I went into manufacturing as an intern while I was a student at, of all things, Triton College and the engineering technology program back then.

And then that turned into a full-time job. Got into one thing after another. So, ultimately, I started when I was eight.