This Week We Feature Young Professional Darryl E. F. Flanders
“I am 6ft 7, very tall, a lot of people ask me, do you play basketball? For fun in the past but not really, I am the type to more go for the shots in the work place rather than going playing basketball.” That’s the first presenting feature of our Young Professional for this Week, Mr Darryl E. F. Flanders.
Don't misjudge him to be an extremely reserved young man if by chance you happen to see him out on the edge of a beach with a book in his hands, eyes well fixed in the words therein as the water washes up, wetting him from the toes and intermittently passing his knees to reach the edge of his knee high pants.
Or if you may see or hear of him somewhere in the heart of nature’s silence, all alone just admiring the wind twisting and turning the leaves or the sun flickering through the branches and hitting the ground creating artwork that can only be made sense by the creative mind.
That's one side of Mr Darryl E. F. Flanders, but there is the other side.
The other side would see him doing the most daring things, jumping from an airplane hundreds of thousands of miles in the air, signing his life away because he understands that there is a very likelihood that he may never make it to earth alive. He is that daring that he loves the thrills of the highest roller coasters, the most complicating and complex fun rides in the parks around the world.
“I love adventure, I am a very outdoor person, and I just love the outdoors. What I am going to do again before the end of the month is to go skydiving again. I love the thrill; I love the thrill of life. I do have a sense of adventure. Besides that I just love those mellow chill days.”
If that's not extreme, check him out when he is choosing a movie to watch. It will be a thriller no doubt.
That's our young professional for this week.
The more public side of him is known in his profession as a Quality and Safety Officer II at the BVI Airports Authority, Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport, Beef Island. He is still very young in the position having recently returned from the USA where he was pursuing his academic studies.
“My inspiration came from my family, my Delta Upsilon brothers, and my mentor/role model, Ms Debra Hodge. My career goal is to become an Air Accident Investigator for the Air Accident Investigation Bureau and the Caribbean. My ultimate goal in life is to own an airline regionally or globally,” said the very ambitious Mr Darryl E.F. Flanders.
Darryl carries a motto that inspires him along the way, “Never let one’s failure keep you from reaching your highest expectations” and is determined to not let anyone distract him from his achieving his dreams.
At an early age, while still in high school, Mr Flanders had a strong inclination as to where his choice of career would be as he had a strong taking to the love of anything to do with aeronautics.
"At that time I didn't know exactly which direction along that line I was going to finally end up but I had a clear indication of the path along which I was heading to pursue a career."
Having completed his studies at the Hamilton Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC) where he obtained an Associate’s Degree in General Science / A-level Option in May 2008 with a GPA: 4.0 / 4.0 and also made the President’s List, Darryl left for the USA to further his studies.
He first obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Aeronautics in December 2010, Minors in Industrial Safety and Aeronautical Studies, GPA: 3.736 / 4.0, and the status of Magna Cum Laude and Dean’s List.
Then in May 2013, he graduated with from the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), Daytona Beach, Florida with a Master of Science (Distinction) in Aeronautics, Specialization: Aerospace Operations and Systems Safety, GPA: 4.0 / 4.0.
"After that I decided it was time for me to come back home and give back to my country. I came back to show that I really love the country of my birth and to be an example to those who contribute to the development of these beautiful islands of the BVI," said Mr Flanders.
His ultimate goal in life is to someday, while still in the prime of his youth, own his own airline whether it be for the Caribbean or for the world. “I think I am sort of on that path right now. For now, leading up to that goal, I am going to become an air accident investigator whether it’s here or in the United Kingdom, whichever one, we will see.”
He is cognizant of the fact that along the path to achieving one’s ultimate goal in life, there will be failures, some of which he has already experienced but did what’s necessary to step over those hurdles and keep on pressing forward.
“I am truly grateful to God. He is the one that saw me through it all and has really blessed me and I will eternally be grateful to him. I just can’t thank him enough. All my accomplishments, all my achievements are because God has been really good to me. I don’t know what it is yet but I know he has a purpose for me,” said Mr Flanders who has a solid root in Christianity.
He is very active in church and can be seen very often on the stage singing praises.
This young professional comes from a family that is known to be well rooted in the field of education and while he is more focused on his career in the field of aviation, he is also kept the family legacy alive as he too does some level of teaching.
On a part-time arrangement, he teaches Report/Professional Writing at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College. “This is my first time at teaching at a college level and especially being so young,” he said.
In his very interesting discourse with Virgin Islands News Online, he said if he is to be an inspiration to youth and is given the opportunity to address youth at a given forum he would choose to speak on the topic of motivation.
“Moreso self-motivation and self-direction,” he specified. “I know that a lot of people believe that a lot of our young people are not driven enough to do what they want to do, to do what they have in mind, what is interesting to them and what best interests them,” he noted.
“It is all about you, it is all about what you want for yourself, and it’s about that foundation that you want to lay for you to build upon. It’s all about your perseverance. If you have a goal in mind, don’t be afraid to do what it takes to get there, go after it,” advised Mr Flanders.
He further stressed that it’s the inner drive that is necessary to push someone to where they want to go. “A lot of people do not understand that … you must first have that inner motivation to say I am going to do this…With motivation, courage, prayer and faith in God just know that you can do it,” our featured young professional encouraged.
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20 Responses to “This Week We Feature Young Professional Darryl E. F. Flanders”
hey Darryl I am so happy for u, O my lord u are so bless. suzette will be so happy.