Meet a Fluid Power Scholarship Winner – Adam Kaszok

The NFPA Education and Technology Foundation has awarded 20 $2,000 scholarships to students pursuing fluid power related fields of study.

One of the winners, Adam Kaszok, is attending the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. We asked Adam a few questions about winning the scholarship.

What does winning a Fluid Power Scholarship mean to you?

Winning the Fluid Power Scholarship Award means that my hard work not just to fill out the application and answer the essay prompts but also throughout my entire high school career has been recognized. I am super proud of myself and also very thankful to have received such an award.

Why did you choose to learn about fluid power?
I chose to learn about fluid power mainly because it is something that many people do not think about. Despite being essential to our modern technologies, a lot of people don’t understand or even consider how pneumatics or hydraulics work. I’ve also always been interested in related topics in school, like math, physics and more recently, electronics. At the end of the day, it’s nothing more than a slightly more educated version of a little boy’s fascination with big, strong machines.

What are your career aspirations? What type of fluid power job do you hope to get after you graduate?

This is quite a difficult question to answer at this point in my life, as I still have a lot to learn and experience over the next four years. It also is going to largely depend on the opportunities I have. However, as I mentioned in my scholarship essay I would take great pleasure in working with any type of electrical control system involving fluid power, this would probably take form in some type of automation/robotics related job.

A minimum GPA of 2.5 out of 4.0, 500-word essay, and letter of recommendation were required from each applicant. The NFPA Foundation’s goal is to help graduating high school students, and individuals enrolled in community colleges, technical schools and universities pursue their academic interests in fluid power.

One way NFPA members can get involved with scholarship programs is to volunteer as a judge to serve on the application review committee. This year 27 judges from 19 NFPA member companies reviewed 122 eligible student applications to the Fluid Power Scholarship program. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Haley Nemeth at hnemeth@nfpa.com.