Chris Vogt (T’11) knows a thing or two about gravity and timing. A juggler since the age of 9, he’s balanced on unicycles and avoided flying knives in his performances. So it makes perfect sense that gravity and timing come into play in his work as a project engineer and designer at UTC Aerospace Systems in Phoenix, Arizona. But where did it all start? Chuck E. Cheese’s.

“My parents were juggling in the ball pit, and I saw it and looked at it as a sport,” he says. “They taught me how to juggle. I checked out juggling books from the library and watched videos. I went to juggling conventions all over the country.”

His big break? Performing with friends at a fifth-grade talent show. “An agent from Milwaukee Summerfest (a yearly music festival with hundreds of thousands of attendees) came up to us afterward and asked if we wanted to perform at the event. I returned for many summers and put a lot of that money away for college.”

Vogt’s aptitude for juggling led him to become an airframe and powerplant mechanic prior to attending Purdue. “Juggling involves numbers and patterns, and you can see that here in the aviation industry,” says Vogt, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering technology. “Purdue helped prepare me for the real world. I remember a general aviation business course that brought speakers in from places like Rolls-Royce and GE to give us a sense of the industry. It gave me the knowledge to adapt to different responsibilities.” And he’s had many.

Presently focused on evacuation systems, Vogt has had tasks that run the gamut from testing generators to working with ram air turbines, which provide power to aircraft in emergencies. “I’ve just kept myself open to learning new things,” he says. “It makes it fun.”

It’s clear that Vogt knows life is a balancing act — whether he’s balancing an engineering career or a six-foot ladder on his chin while lowering to the ground and rising back up.

“At first, some of my coworkers didn’t even believe I could juggle,” he chuckles. “I’m lucky to have two things I love to do. Not everyone can say that.”