‘A shining star.’ Tri-Cities grad looking to the sky for aerospace career
John Solomon’s dreams are about to take flight.
“I’ve been in love with planes my entire life, ever since I was a kid,” said the Delta High School senior. “My parents bought me all the space books. As I grew up, that morphed into aviation and aerospace.”
That’s why he will be attending the University of Southern California in the fall to study aerospace engineering and material sciences. He’s one of about 83,000 applicants to apply to USC, which accepted just 10% for its upcoming freshman class.
His infatuation with aerospace and planes began 16 years ago, when he stayed up late one night with his family to catch a glimpse of the STS-128 Discovery mission.
Solomon ultimately missed the launch, which had been delayed several times by weather issues — but his passion was sparked.
By chance, about a month ago, he got to meet one of the NASA astronauts involved in that ISS mission at an event with Pasco students.
“It took me a minute, but I realized that that was the astronaut on that shuttle when I was a kid,” Solomon said of meeting Jose Hernandez. “I was like, ‘I just watched the guy who kick started my passion for aviation.’ So it kind of brought things full circle around.”
Solomon will be one of 90 Delta High School seniors to graduate Thursday, June 5, at the HAPO Center. He and about one-third of his classmates also will graduate later from Columbia Basin College with an associate’s degree that they’ve earned through the Running Start college program.
Melanie Casciato, Delta’s community engagement manager, says Solomon’s academic successes are evidence of the career discovery opportunities they afford each student. Those include frequent field trips, guest speakers and rigorous advising.
“He’s just a shining star here,” Casciato said. “He’s super involved in his academics, both here and through his college classes. He’s involved in leadership, he always has a positive word and a big smile and support for his classmates.”
Solomon credits the collaborative teaching staff at Delta, as well as his supportive and motivational family. Learning at the choice STEM school has been engaging, and it never felt like teachers were trying to “squeeze a grade” out of students, he said.
“Delta has a special place in my heart,” he said. “It’s not grades first, it’s your comprehension first. And that’s something across all classes... The teaching here is incredible.”
Youngest of 5
Solomon comes from a “very competitive” family, the youngest of five children — he has two brothers and two sisters.
One of his older brothers attended Cornell, and another serves in the Air Force. As children, they would frequently share with one another the coolest factoids they were learning in school.
“They try and show off, thinking they’re better than you,” he said.
For example, they frequently would quiz each other on the state capitals from a reference map.
“They kind of instilled a competitive mindset in me to learn more and to try and beat them,” he said. “I looked up to all my siblings because they’re so smart and cool in my minds.”
When asked his role models, Solomon lists his dad and brothers growing up.
His parents immigrated to the U.S. from Ethiopia during a time of political strife and famine. His parents met through a mutual friend after arriving.
Solomon’s father works as a PhD chemist at the Hanford site, he said. There was a big emphasis on education as he grew up.
When asked his favorite class at Delta, Solomon lists several. But just one person had the most impact for the budding aerospace engineer: His freshman history teacher, John Keaney.
That first year of high school was stressful for many reasons, Solomon said, among them the COVID pandemic, increased school workload and making new friends.
“I didn’t really know how to manage it. Life just sort of felt like a hurricane and stressful,” Solomon said. “But Mr. Keaney was sort of like the anchor. Not only was he always uplifting, always a smile on his face and laughing, but he was also very endearing and very kind.”
He taught his students how to organize tasks and tackle them one at a time, and how to focus when things got overwhelming.
Those strategies helped Solomon as he took on more responsibilities, including National Honor Society and becoming a Delta ambassador.
“Now, it feels like I don’t get stressed that much,” he said. “It’s not that I don’t have a busy life, but I’m very calm. It was very helpful to have his guidance.”
Solomon added: “(Mr. Keaney) always told us, ‘Don’t be sorry — be better.’ And we made that our class motto this year.”
This story was originally published May 15, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
