Sometimes college majors aren’t as important as they seem. That’s how it was for Chris West (‘15), anyway
West was a member of Riverside’s engineering program, ROTC, track and field, and football team. Despite earning a degree in textile engineering from NC State, he now works in product development at GORE in Pennsylvania.
GORE is the company that makes the fabric GORE-TEX, but they do more than that, too. West works in their biopharmaceutical section.
He works on medical devices like stents and graphs and is developing a syringe.
When working in health, there are many concerns, but West works hard to ensure everything is as it should be.
“For our products, we want to make sure it’s right, and it’s right every time,” he said. “[You have to] understand that there are a lot of serious consequences if you don’t do something right.”
He didn’t expect to work in biopharmaceuticals and wouldn’t mind switching to something new.
“I would definitely be interested in other areas within GORE,” West said.
When West was in high school, the faculty and staff list was different, but at the core RHS was the same. Several teachers influenced him as a student, but not all of them are still here.
“Ms. Foster taught me that there are other ways to talk to people or address people,” he said. “It’s not just a one-way street of teacher to student,.”
He was also influenced by his engineering teachers and track and field coaches.
“Riverside was really good to me,” he said.
