While I was studying at CSU Pueblo and practicing with the Pack as we prepared for an exhibition game in Salt Lake City against the University of Utah on October 29, my wife, Sydney, was in West Lafayette, Ind., for work.
Her company, Estes Energetics, has partnered with Purdue’s chemical engineering department to provide work for their professors and students. Estes Energetics works with black powder and rocket fuel and is a new and upcoming company.
Sydney is a chemical engineer, and her team at Estes is working on Department of Defense contracts to produce eight critical chemicals. They are making a pilot plant – a miniature version they want to build in Louisiana.
It is impressive to see what she is working on daily, and I am waiting to hear about her trip to Indiana. I am proud of her and all the academic work she put in in college, and now, I appreciate the time and effort she puts into her job daily.
Sydney grew up in the Brighton/Erie, just North of Denver on I-25. After high school, she attended Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colo., playing volleyball and getting her associate degree for two years. Sydney (maiden name Crites) wanted to continue playing volleyball and get a chemical engineering degree, so she enrolled at the South Dakota School of Mines. That is where we met and started dating.
After my senior year, I decided to graduate transfer and chose to go to CSU Pueblo while she finished her last semester in South Dakota. During her final semester, she had a unique opportunity to go to Germany for three weeks and work on a project that counted as part of her senior design class.
After graduating in December 2023, she was hired by Estes Energetics. Her job is in Penrose, a quick 30-minute drive west of Pueblo on Highway 50. Most people have heard more about the company as they make model rockets you can buy.
