Highlights
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History student Amy Lendian was forced to pivot in her career in her 60s when she was laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic, but she turned the setback into her dream job in the aerospace industry.
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As a fire protection systems engineer, Lendian supports launches at Kennedy Space Center and will be at the console for the Artemis II launch.
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Inspired by the notion that it’s never too late, Lendian enrolled in UCF Online to finish a milestone she started 50 years ago — her college degree.
As a 67-year-old retiree, Amy Lendian wants you to know it’s never too late. Never too late to start over; to go for your dream career; to earn your college degree.
When the UCF Online history student assumes her spot at the console at Kennedy Space Center to lead the facility systems engineers for the upcoming historic Artemis II launch, that affirmation will echo within her once more.
“I always believed in myself and felt that I could do this,” she says. “It really is never too late.”
Turning a Setback Into a Comeback
Lendian spent the majority of her adult life building her career as a fire protection engineer, helping design sprinkler systems and other fire safety infrastructure.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic happened. The construction industry came to a screeching halt. In her 60s, she suddenly faced unemployment.
“I thought, ‘Who is going to want to hire me in my 60s?’ ” she says. “But I made it my job to find a job. And not just any job. I set out for my dream job in the aerospace industry.”
She logged in every day on her home computer to research job listings, dressed as if she was headed to an office. She sought career counseling. She joined virtual seminars to learn new software and online tools she knew she’d need to master if she wanted to break into the field. She learned how to rework her resume to leverage her relevant skills.
Her strategy and persistence paid off. She got a call back for a fire protection systems engineer position on base at Kennedy Space Center.
Finding Her Place in Space
On her first day at KSC, she attended a briefing where they discussed etiquette while serving on the console. She says it took her a moment to process what she was hearing.
“I stayed up to watch Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. I have a photo of myself as a kid standing in front of an Apollo rocket. And you’re saying you want me to be on the console during a launch?!” she says. “I thought, ‘I’m here. I arrived.’ ”
Lendian served on the console for the Artemis I launch in November 2022.
Although she has since retired from her formal position with KSC and moved to Chicago, she is still employed as a part-time consultant and will be there again for Artemis II managing the fire protection systems on the launchpad.
Finishing What She Started
Her late-stage career change inspired her to consider other dreams she had yet to realize. A big one has been nearly 50 years in the making.
Lendian was 19 years old when she attempted college the first time. She enrolled in the University of South Florida’s electrical engineering program in the late 1970s. But after three years, she stopped her studies because she got married and needed to support her new family.
In 2021, she decided to resuscitate her dream of a college degree. She transferred her old credits into the DirectConnect to UCF program at Eastern Florida State College, earned her associate’s degree and looked to enroll in one of UCF Online’s degree programs so she could manage school with her full-time job.
The history degree she is working toward is affiliated with one of the top online institutions. UCF ranks No. 6 for Online Bachelor’s Programs nationally according to the U.S. News & World Report.
“I want that bachelor’s degree,” Lendian says. “I am doing this for me. I am going to do something that I love (history). And I am going to graduate.”
