Jim Pamplona

Hello! My name is Jim and I’ve come a long way from where I began.

I was nine months old when my dad, older brother, and I boarded a plane from the Philippines to Guam in search of a better life. For years, my mom had to stay behind due to paperwork, so our only connection was through nightly Skype calls where she sang us lullabies through a pixelated screen. When she finally joined us ten years later, we lived in a small, fragile room on my grandfather’s lot until my dad began building our house with his own two hands while my mom provided care for us each day. Together my parents showed me that resilience means not only surviving hardship, but lifting others along the way, whether it was my dad sending money back to extended family in the Philippines or my mom helping families with their paperwork to move to Guam. Their perseverance, compassion, and faith became the foundation of how I approached life and everything that comes with it.

Creativity became my way of reflecting on these...

Looking back, I see how all of these moments connected. A plane that carried us to Guam. A screen that carried my mom’s voice across oceans. Parents who not only provided for us, but also supported extended family and guided others toward better opportunities. Creativity that taught me to design with empathy. And faith that reminded us, even in our hardest moments, that there is always reason to hope. Together, they shaped my realization: aerospace and technology are not just tools, they are bridges of exploration. For me, software engineering became the way to bring it all together: a path where I can honor my resilience and faith while building solutions that help people today and open doors to what lies beyond the horizon.