Students Who Engineer Together, Stay Together

One could say Annie Rourke and Jonathan Gregory do everything together. The pair of engineering students at Cedarville University plan to keep it that way with a wedding and mutual job designing missiles and rockets on the horizon.

Senior mechanical engineering major Rourke, from Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and electrical engineering major Gregory, from Hudson, Ohio, have experienced their academic programs side by side. First meeting in differential equations class in their freshman year, they bonded over a mutual interest in engineering and baseball.

Many classes, assignments and dates later, the pair is completing their senior design project together — and headed for the alter shortly after. Rourke and Gregory, along with eight other mechanical, electrical and computer engineering students, spent the year constructing a 10-foot, 55-pound rocket for NASA’s student launch competition in Huntsville, Alabama, that took place in April.

“We were thrilled to find that this project was interdisciplinary,” said Gregory. “We were excited to work together, despite our difference in majors, on the biggest project of our college careers.”

The experience will mirror their post-graduation plans. After the couple ties the knot on May 25, they will move to Denver, Colorado, where they will both begin jobs working for Lockheed Martin — a leading aerospace company — on military defense-related projects.

“It’s a blessing from God for sure,” said Gregory. “This year’s project has given us a glimpse of what it is going to be like to work together, and we’re really excited.”

Rourke will be a systems engineer, integrating systems and practicing mechanical design. Gregory will be working on programming electronics and computer communications. Many of the skills the couple has learned in their engineering studies have prepared them for what’s next. 

“Cedarville University’s engineering department is phenomenal,” said Rourke. “It’s rigorous and is intentional in preparing students for the workplace. We do a lot of group work like labs, write reports and practice professional presentations. These are huge elements in the engineering profession that not many programs provide, but we are now prepared.”

Located in southwest Ohio, Cedarville University is an accredited, Christ-centered, Baptist institution with an enrollment of 5,082  undergraduate, graduate, and  dual-enrolled high school students in more than 175 areas of study. Founded in 1887, Cedarville is one of the largest private universities in Ohio, recognized nationally for its authentic Christian community, rigorous academic programs, including the Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering, high graduation and retention rates, accredited professional and health science offerings, and the #4 national ranking by the Wall Street Journal for student engagement. For more information about the University, visit cedarville.edu.