{"id":177896,"date":"2023-05-18T13:54:23","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T23:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=177896"},"modified":"2025-03-17T08:32:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T18:32:49","slug":"christian-falcon-uh-maui-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2023\/05\/18\/christian-falcon-uh-maui-college\/","title":{"rendered":"From LEGOs to AI<\/abbr>: Christian Falcon\u2019s eclectic, electric educational journey"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Christian
Christian Falcon tunes an adaptive optics system<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LEGO pieces were the first building blocks of Christian Falcon\u2019s journey to graduation from the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Maui College<\/a> in May 2023 with an associate in science degree in electronic and computer engineering technology<\/a> (ECET<\/abbr>).<\/p>\n

“Ever since I was young, I was always interested in how things worked and in building things. One of my favorite activities was making creations with LEGOs,” Falcon said. “Little did I know my interest in Legos was probably the foundation for my interest in engineering.”<\/p>\n

Things get rocky<\/h2>\n
\"Graduate
Christian Falcon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although the Maui native knew he wanted to be an engineer when he was growing up, his life took a slight detour after his graduation from Baldwin High School in 2015. He discovered a new passion\u2014rock climbing.<\/p>\n

“I decided to take a break from school to work and pursue rock climbing,” Falcon said. “Initially, I planned to take a two-year hiatus at most, but I worked as a carpenter and rock climbed for six years until the pandemic hit.”<\/p>\n

Since it was difficult to find work, Falcon decided it was the perfect time to go back to school and pursue his lifelong dream of becoming an engineer.<\/p>\n

“I enrolled in UH<\/abbr> Maui College\u2019s ECET<\/abbr> program and was immediately inspired to put my all into this educational journey,” he said.<\/p>\n