By Emily Younger Barnwell 

Despite residing more than 1,600 miles away, Adi Jain, a 16-year-old from California, has become one of Wichita’s biggest fans.

“It’s a fantastic city with amazing people,” raved Adi.

Adi spent the majority of July in the Air Capital of the World working as one of Spirit AeroSystem’s 49 high school summer interns.

“The internship taught me about life as an engineer, which, after this internship, I found to be the perfect job for me. I love problem-solving, and as I walked around the Wichita State campus and Spirit headquarters, I was impressed by the amount of problem-solving happening,” he said.

With no prior connection to Wichita, or Kansas for that matter, Adi and his father lived in a local hotel for the duration of the internship.

“At first, I was nervous,” Adi said. “This would be the most extended period I would spend away from home. However, the Wichita community immediately cared for me like I was one of their own.”

The high school junior quickly made himself at home, too – making friends, attending the popular Keeper of the Plains fire event, touring the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson and taking occasional walks along Wichita’s riverfront.

“Everything about Wichita surprised me. It was definitely a more active community than I initially thought, and seeing everyone having fun and interacting as one big family was amazing,” he said.

Adi’s enthusiasm for Wichita and learning did not go unnoticed by Spirit.

“We were honored to have Adi in our summer program. The fact that he researched, found our program, and traveled from California to Wichita was amazing,” said Lori Hladik, HR external pipeline development manager for Spirit.

Looking ahead to 2024, more aerospace opportunities are on the horizon. Spirit is expanding its summer internship program to 100 students and introducing four new business functions including tooling, logistics, IT/cyber security and safety. It currently offers internships in engineering, supply chain, finance and operations/sheet metal mechanic business functions.

Similarly, Textron Aviation filled 150 internship positions in the summer of 2023.

Adi said he is wildly interested in returning to Wichita in 2024 for another aerospace internship before pursuing a college degree and a full-time career in aerospace.

Until then, he is reminded daily of the special summer in the Air Capital, thanks to his dog, Ike. Adi adopted Ike in Wichita before returning home to California – a testament to the lasting memories made in the Midwest.

Learn more about Adi Jain's journey to Wichita