By Michelle Nery

While most toddlers can say their ABCs, Garrett and Helena Haltiwanger’s 3-year-old son Jacob can also recite the concept that velocity is the first time derivative of acceleration. That’s not so unusual, considering that his parents met while attending U.S. Navy Nuclear Power School and continued on to top honors in Old Dominion’s mechanical engineering technology program.

Garrett earned his bachelor’s degree in 2001 and is two classes away from completing his master’s with a 3.91 GPA. Helena received the Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology Faculty Award for Academic Excellence in engineering technology when she completed her bachelor’s degree in May with a 3.97 GPA.

Both Garrett and Helena joined the Navy while in college prior to coming to ODU – Garrett was attending the University of South Carolina while Helena was at Wayne State University. “I joined to find a different path. I wanted to experience life on my own and get out and explore,” Helena said.

The couple married Dec. 2, 1996, and graduated from Navy Nuclear Power School the following July. Garrett was medically discharged from the Navy after two years, but Helena remained on active duty six years, serving on the aircraft carriers Eisenhower and Truman. Garrett enrolled in ODU’s mechanical engineering technology program in 1998 when Helena was transferred to Hampton Roads.

“I graduated before Helena began the program and it worked out quite well because I had all the books and basically was an in-home tutor,” Garrett said.

“I think a lot of it served as a refresher for him,” said Helena, who has since returned the favor by helping Garrett with his graduate school studies.

The two currently are engineers for the newest aircraft carrier, the CVN 21, at Northrop Grumman. Garrett works on piping design while Helena’s area involves propulsion plant design and systems reactors.

“We’re both working in fluids, but ... I need to know how everything on the ship relates, what valves do what, so my Navy background has really helped,” said Helena.

Garrett said he likes the fact that his job incorporates everything from traditional engineering to dealing with customers and vendors.

Helena noted that even though her ODU classes are over, her learning certainly has not ended. “I enjoy interacting with different people and learning the ropes in my new job. I like the fact that learning is so much more than just what’s in the book; it’s about interacting with others to understand more.”

Even as the couple debates whether Garrett should continue his studies at the doctoral level while Jacob is still young, they are pursuing another common dream – that of building their dream home. Construction on their new home in Smithfield should be completed this fall.

For little Jacob, it will mean plenty of room to test his newly learned concept of velocity.