Hanging out with Helen Manumbu – Traveling Down the Aviation Tech Ops Path
Those ties to Kalamazoo very often bind for a long, long time. Just ask Helen Hyabita Manumbu, who also has some legacy links to Western Michigan University.
Before shifting her residence to the Boston suburb of Danvers, Mass., in Essex County, the freshman major in aviation technical operations lived in Western's home community until her sixth-grade year in school.
"I knew about the university," she says, "but not all that it had to offer. Most of my family has attended and graduated from Western as well."
Manumbu is a 2023 graduate of Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical High School, which was established in 2014 and offers training in 24 programs.
Danvers, population 28,000, has an historical connection to the infamous Salem Witch Trials of 1692, but there was nothing wizardly and satanic about Manumbu's choice of study. "I was in Essex North's engineering program for four years learning the basics of electricity, precision measuring, soldering, and so much more."
Interest in aviation was sparked during childhood on flights from Kalamazoo to Boston and back to visit parents. That was complemented by her concentration on mechanical engineering in high school. A combination of both seemed like the perfect career path.
Manumbu's stepmother, who works in safety management for Delta Air Lines, attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, one of Western's main competitors in the field of aviation training. That's not exactly like "Sleeping with the Enemy," but more like "Living with the Enemy," although the College of Aviation and Embry-Riddle have never been locked in a life-or-death relationship. They just compete for prospective aviators.
In Manumbu's case, Western won out, thanks to a visit to the aviation campus in Battle Creek in 2022, but the decision went down to the wire. "I was accepted at Embry-Riddle," she says, "but found WMU to be a better fit due to classroom sizes, professors and all-around environment." The family Western legacy and links to Kalamazoo probably had something to do with it as well.
Despite her engineering training in high school, her idea of an enjoyable experience is not rocket science. She's a curious soul who follows her curiosity. "I enjoy going on car drives and exploring new places," she says. "Learning new things and discovering new places -- be it finding a new town, visiting a scenic overlook, or going into a local shop. It is fun to go on spontaneous adventures. Each trip brings new experiences and memories."
That curiosity took her to Tanzania, the home country of her father, in the summer of 2021. Tanzania is northwest of Madagascar on the Indian Ocean coastline. Bordering Uganda and Kenya, it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places on Earth and came into being with the unification of Tanganyika and Zanzibar.
"I learned about my father's childhood, culture and education," Manumbu says. "I visited his old grade school and the local hang-out spots. The experience encouraged me to attend college so that I can give back to my family and make my 97-year-old grandma proud."
When she's not taking aviation courses such as Brian Jansen's "Aircraft Hardware and Fluid Lines," Manumbu is helping out Mom, who owns the Love Muffins bakery in downtown Kalamazoo and sells her famed carrot-cake muffins to dozens of Kalamazoo-area grocers and restaurants.
"I enjoy that class," she says, "because the content is enjoyable, and the teacher (Jansen) explains the material in a way people can easily understand. I enjoy being able to ask specific questions -- or clarify topics that I am unsure of -- in a welcoming environment."
Still in her immediate future at the College of Aviation, Manumbu believes, are internship opportunities and joining aviation-related organizations, all of which will come when she knows her academics are on solid footing.
"My favorite part about WMU is the community," she says. "Many students on campus seem to look out for one another daily. Not only does this help keep the campus safe, but also allows students to be themselves and form genuine friendships."
Such well-rounded training and positive experiences at a comprehensive university should take Manumbu to a place where the "dream job" is reachable -- working for an airline such as Delta and United in a maintenance department or joining an enterprise on the scale of Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., a 19,000-employee manufacturer of business-jet aircraft headquartered in Savannah, Ga.
Either way, she will become part of the Bronco legacy that nurtures the aviation industry and allows it to grow.