Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division employees at China Lake are joined by Harlan Kooima, front left, director of NAWCWD Software and Mission Systems Integration, to celebrate their completion of the command’s Project Management 101 program following a ceremony on Aug. 29. (U.S. Navy photo)

China Lake recognizes 45 Project Management 101 graduates

Archived Body

NAVAL AIR WARFARE CENTER WEAPONS DIVISION, CHINA LAKE, Calif. - Project Management 101, a locally developed, Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division-sponsored program, honored 45 graduates at China Lake on Aug. 29 for completing 80 hours of training over the course of two months. Twenty-five additional graduates were recognized during an Aug. 8 ceremony at Point Mugu.

Harlan Kooima, ceremony keynote speaker and director of NAWCWD Software and Mission Systems Integration, shared some of the setbacks he’d experienced early on in his career and reminded the graduates that they must learn from their failures.

“You all need to have an experience that you can learn from,” Kooima said. “We’re building new technologies, a lot of which have never been done before. There will be challenges, there will be setbacks and failures, and you need to learn from that.”

He encouraged the new graduates to apply their skills wherever and whenever possible and to have a, “Put me in, coach,” attitude.

“We’re going to need you not just because you took a program or a class, but because your nation has a need for capabilities fielded out in the fleet,” he said. “What you’ve learned, you need to put into practice and start honing your skills. Take it to heart because you will be called upon. We need every one of you to make a difference every day you come to work.”

Project Management 101 fiscal year 2017 graduates from China Lake were:

Daniel Allen, Jason Allen, Benjamin Anderson, Aziz Awwad, Christian Blake, Timothy Bouwkamp, Craig Bradley, Christopher Burchett, Greg Carter, Christopher Costoso, Ernesto Espinoza, Anthony Esslinger, Charles Ezeike, Kevin Fallen, Kenneth Fischbach, Hal Flinn, Kanielle Gordon, Jeffery Green, Barry Hileman Jr, Logan Hunter, Melanie Hutmacher, William Ireland, Richard Kennedy, Patrick Mahoney, Darlene McGonagle, Sam Merriman, Brandy Miller, Jennifer Moses, Rodney Nutter, Steve Penix, Andrea Phillips, Thomas Richardson, Joshua Rivera, Paul Runnells, Matthew Schmeiser, Jenifer Shadden, Aamir Shahzad, Eric Shoaf, Kenneth Smith, Matthew Starr, Brian Symons, Vincent Vargas Jr, James Werth, Shane Wiedemann and Kyle Wilson.