Everardo Ortiz de Montellano Taboada had dreamed of being a pilot for as long as he could remember. Today, just five years after graduating from BISB, he has achieved this goal. Read on to learn how this 2010 graduate went from disinterested student to commercial pilot, and why his time at BISB was so valuable.
Everardo Ortiz de Montellano Taboada had dreamed of being a pilot for as long as he could remember. Today, just five years after graduating from BISB, he has achieved this goal. Read on to learn how this 2010 graduate went from disinterested student to commercial pilot, and why his time at BISB was so valuable.
Read on for a full Q&A interview with Everardo, about his path to achieving his goal of becoming a commercial pilot.
Q: How long did you attend BISB? What drew you to the school initially?
Everardo: I attended BISB for two years, the duration of the IB Diploma Programme. What drew me to the school initially was that it had the IB Diploma available and I knew that if I wanted to get into a university abroad it would be easier with this diploma than with a typical US high school degree.
Q: Where did you go to school, and why? Did you know what you wanted to study at the time, or did your path of study change at all in college?
Everardo: I went to the University of Liverpool. Many people said that I had it easy as I knew my entire life that what I wanted to be when I grew up was a commerical pilot, therefore the career choice was simple. I chose the University of Liverpool as it offered a degree in aerospace engineering and pilot studies, I believed this was what would best benefit me most at that time. Now, in my career as a commercial pilot I am very happy with the path that I chose.
Q: What was college like for you? How was the transition from BISB to college?
Everardo: College, like any new thing, is a hard experience both sociallly and academically. By this I mean that many people move to a college near home with other colleagues from school or choose a degree that can at times be more demanding than what they initially imagined. For me, I believe that the fact that I had come from a number of different international schools the social aspect of college was just like moving to a new school, as I had done my entire life about every 3 years. The academic demands of college, however, do not compare to those in high school, but do compare to those set forth by the IB Diploma Programme. I believe that I did so well in university and graduated with such good grades because of my pre-exposure to a tough and demanding program in the IBDP.
Q: How do you think your education at BISB prepared you for college and for your career?
Everardo: BISB and the IB prepared me mostly academically. As a small school the teachers really did their part in giving almost individual attention to each student in order to lead them to success. My academic levels going into BISB and leaving were drastically changed. I started as a mediocre student with little to no interest in school and departed BISB an achieving student ready to enter college.
Q: Can you talk a bit about the work you are doing today?
Everardo: Today I am a first officer for Volaris Airlines in Mexico. I am a pilot of an Airbus 320, one of the most modern and most popular planes in the sky today. I love doing what I do because I have always wanted to do this. My entire life since I was a small child I have wanted to be a pilot for an airline.
Q: What are your career goals going forward?
Everardo: I wish to grow in the industry hopefully continue on to captain and fly bigger planes.
Q: What skills did you learn at BISB that are most applicable to your career and your life now?
Everardo: I learned study and dedication skills. People don’t realize it, but pilots are studying their entire career. Not a day goes past that we don’t recieve either bulletins or briefings on new information that we must know in order to safely carry on the tasks that we do onboard. Before BISB, studying was not my strong suit; I did not know how to study. After BISB and the IB, however, many new studying techniques were acquired!
