For Elijah Warriner, a straightforward solution to a problem may be the right answer, but it’s not always the one that provides the best understanding.
“I’ve always loved to solve things creatively,” he said, “or at least as creatively as possible, and not really take the main method because even though the tried-and-true method can be the correct way to do it, sometimes finding some new way to do it can give you an even broader understanding of everything.”
Warriner, who will graduate from Anderson High School next weekend with a 3.995 GPA, said his outside-the-box approach to problem solving was honed from an early age. When he was 8 years old, his mother gave him access to an old computer.
“The first thing I started doing was tampering with it,” Warriner said. “I couldn’t stop tinkering around, snooping around with things I probably shouldn’t have. … I was turning the antivirus on and off, downloading new things, different tools to change whatever settings there were. That kind of sparked my love for creative solutions.”
A similar attitude began to shape his vision for a career path after high school. At various times, he wanted to become a construction worker, a chef, a game developer, and then a chef again. But his love of computers continued to draw him to the U.S. Air Force.
“I wanted to go into the Air Force from a pretty young age, when I was a freshman in high school,” he said. “I finally just kicked it into high gear — talking to as many recruiters as possible, getting into computers even more than I already had, getting as many certifications as I could within a manageable time frame.”
Warriner got a late start in Anderson High School’s Junior Officer Training Corps (JROTC), but his instructors were impressed with his ability to quickly grasp concepts and training techniques.
Thinking about his options from a variety of perspectives, Warriner has also drawn praise for his careful consideration of a wide variety of post-secondary opportunities.
One of them could have meant Warriner becoming the first Anderson graduate — and, it’s believed, one of the first in Indiana — to join the United States Space Force, a sister branch of the Air Force that gained renewed prominence during the administration of President Donald Trump.
However, Warriner said, he had to choose between waiting until next winter for a non-guaranteed chance to begin his Space Force training or starting immediately with the Air Force.
“We’re all very proud of him to be one of the few selected for the Space Force,” said Terri Wilson, a college and career counselor at Anderson High School. “I know that he will be successful in all of his endeavors and he’ll give great representation of Anderson.”
Other teachers at Anderson mentioned Warriner’s drive to see projects through to completion as another attribute that will serve him well.
“I think once he goes to boot camp, he’ll excel just due to his mentality,” said David Scaramazzo, chief JROTC instructor at Anderson High. “He knows it’s going to be different, and he knows it’s going to be difficult, but he’s got that attitude that he just wants to do it for the long haul.”
Warriner’s training will begin this summer at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, where he’ll study to become a fusion analyst. He’ll work with intelligence data to determine its value for sharing among several government agencies. He said the work, with its emphasis on cybersecurity, is a perfect fit for him.
“I wanted a solution to a problem I’ve had most of my life of just not being able to find who I want to be,” he said. “Now I want to be as high up in the (Air Force) ranking as I can possibly get. I’ve always been told to shoot for the stars, so that’s what I’ve always done.”
This article appeared in The Herald Bulletin.