Where Are They Now? — Jonathan Jensen

What have I been up to since 1988?

Back in the day (high school that is) I was the nerdy little kid that hung out in the Vocational Tech building in Mr. Baron's electronics lab. I was also on the stage crew for a few years and was in Mr. Johnson's band class. (I remember the Mexico trip well.)

I guess you could say I turned pro with that electronics thing. While a junior ('87), I won the State Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA - now Skills USA) championship in Electronics Technology. By 1994, I had won placed in state VICA six times, competed nationally five times, and most surprisingly won 1st place in the nation in Electronics Products Servicing (fixing broken TVs, stereos, CD players, computers, etc.) (1994). That was the year I transferred into the Electrical Engineering program. I took my own pace and received a Bachelors degree in '97 and a Masters degree in 2001 - both in electrical engineering. (I guess I am a Master Nerd or Geek). Second only to my father, Mr. Clark Baron, the electronics teacher, had the most influence on my career path. I have so much fun I still can't believe people are paying me to do this stuff.

Currently I am employed by ON Semiconductor as an RF/Mixed Signal ASIC Engineer (I design the little black chips in your electronic gadgets - and ASIC stands for Application Specific Integrated Circuit.) ON Semiconductor recently purchased AMI Semiconductor where I have been working eight years. My most recent accomplishment has been the design of the integrated circuit that goes into wireless headphones for back-seat car entertainment systems. Although I haven't made my millions, there are several million of those chips in headphones and in peoples' cars now. Shortly after earning my bachelors degree, I worked for several startups before settling in at AMI (now ON Semiconductor). Startups, however, still run in my blood.

I served a mission to South Dakota, and then began my schooling career (a few more years of schooling and I would have had a pension plan.) I sufficiently enjoyed learning to have earned 308 credit hours when I received my bachelors degree. I wasn't much of a ladies man, but I dated like there was no tomorrow. In spite of my daily showering, combing the hair, and even using underarm deodorant, I was a 7 year "menace to society" veteran when I got married in 2004. I currently live in Pocatello, Idaho and have two children (Sarah - 2 1/2 years old, and Nathan 5 weeks old.) I guess taking celestial marriage 7 or 8 times in college and over 10 years in singles wards finally paid off.

One very fond memory of high school was the cooking class I took. I sat in the back with another guy and two gals (who's names slip my mind). During the semester (spring) they cheered me on to a group date or two with them. They really helped me out on my first date. I won't put all the details in print - in case the gal I dated wants to bury the memory - but the groups' conversation stagnated to talking about Kentucky Fried Chicken is "Finger licking good." I have never been more nervous than that first date. However, I will forever appreciate those classmates befriending me and helping me out of my shell.

My side hobbies have been quite varied. One that stuck was professional audio recording and playing sound technician during live performances. (My dream is to sit in the sound booth at the Conference Center and run a show.) I also was an 80's music junkie and am now, slowly replacing my 500+ disc collection with downloads (smaller, lighter, easier to carry.). It is amazing how shelves of CDs can fit in one hand-held music player.