You Have to See it to Believe It

By Julie Knight

Throughout his life, Ja’Vell Carter seemed to naturally attract angels, strangers whose random acts of kindness set him on a better path.   

Beyond His Wildest Dreams

Now an award-winning B-21 engineer, Ja’Vell says, “When I was a kid, growing up in poverty in Louisiana, I never dreamed of becoming an engineer, especially a black engineer. You have to see it to believe it, and I’d never met an engineer.”

Ja’Vell got the idea to become an engineer from the first angel in his life, his seventh-grade substitute teacher.

“While sharpening my pencil, the tip got jammed in the pencil sharpener hole. I started taking it apart to fix it. I just didn’t want to get into trouble.”

My teacher said, “’You outta be an engineer.’” That was the spark that ignited his career path.

He attended Prairie View A&M University in Texas, earned good grades and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.

In his senior year in 2020, a recruiter from Lockheed Martin promised him a job when he graduated. Unfortunately, the recruiter left Lockheed right before Ja’Vell’s graduation and left no record of his job offer.

That year, several of his college schoolmates were headed for the Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) Conference in Washington D.C., where companies go to recruit bright college students like him. Unfortunately, since Ja’Vell previously had a job offer, he wasn’t included on the invite list for the event.

Enter angel number two, Ja’Vell’s roommate Robert. When Robert heard what happened, he encouraged his little brother Ramon to give Ja’Vell his invitation to the event, knowing Ramon had two more years to attend while this would be Ja’Vell’s last big shot at getting another job offer.

Thanks to the kindness of Robert and Ramon, Ja’Vell was able to attend the conference and schedule an interview at the event with Lockheed Martin.