An Astronomical Hobby: P1 Associate Profile on Senior Project Manager Kevin Norris

P1 Construction Senior Project Manager Kevin Norris’s career has taken several twists and turns, and along the way, he’s developed several interesting hobbies.

But his most recent hobby is out of this world.

After graduating from high school, Kevin followed in the footsteps of both his father and grandfather, joining the Local 1529 Millwright Union. He got through the apprenticeship quickly and turned out as a journeyman shortly before his 21st birthday.

He worked as a millwright in the field for many years but decided to take classes in mechanical engineering in the hopes of a more lucrative future for his family and himself.

Kevin soon went from working in the field to landing a management position.

During his career, he had opportunities to work overseas in Thailand, Taiwan, and China, and even take a couple of years as “Mr. Mom,” living in the Caribbean while his wife studied to become a veterinarian.

He eventually took a job as a Project Manager for an electrical company, and then took classes to strengthen his knowledge of the electrical industry. His experience as an electrical project manager is what brought him to P1.

“Over the course of my life, I’ve learned many things that have ultimately become hobbies,” Kevin said. “I tend to get bored if I don’t have something to tinker with, so I have a lot of hobbies.”

He was taught some woodworking skills from his dad and grandfather when he was a boy but says he didn’t really develop the patience for it until he got much older.

“I have a workshop where I’ve built furniture, but I really just love to build stuff, so I also have an area in my workshop dedicated to doing electronics and an area to do laser cutting and 3D printing,” Kevin said.

When he’s not at work or in the workshop, Kevin and his wife, Jamie, enjoy camping.

It was during these camping trips in remote locations, away from most artificial light, they noticed the vibrantly visible stars in the night sky.

“We both had an interest in the stars, so we were naturally drawn into astronomy,” Kevin said.

They also learned there was a comet visible in the area.

“We would go to the east side of Olathe trying to find this comet. All we had was a set of binoculars, but we were persistent, and we were finally able to find it,” he recalled.

“While we were out looking for it, Jupiter came up and we were able to steady the binoculars on the top of the car enough to make out the moons of Jupiter,” Kevin said.

Kevin says they were really hooked on astronomy by now, so at Christmas, they got a telescope.

“Astronomy is a typically a cold weather sport because the skies tend to be clearer the colder it is,” Kevin said. “I don’t really like cold weather, so we only go out camping if the weather is decent, but there are still some amazing things to see in summer.”

Since getting the telescope, they have gone out and imaged some of the planets and have seen one nebula and the Andromeda Galaxy.

They were also able to go to a location and see the full eclipse this past April.

“While viewing the eclipse, our goal was to get a nice picture of the corona, and we captured some prominences, so there were actually flares that we caught with the telephoto lens on a camera,” Kevin said.

They were able to see the alignment of the planets this past June and are looking forward to next year when Saturn will be at such an angle the rings won’t be visible.

Kevin says he does a lot of reading and research to learn about astronomy. He and his wife are also members of the Astronomical Society of Kansas City (ASKC) and they get a wealth of information through them.

Kevin finds looking at the stars a truly amazing experience.

“It’s easy to take all the stars and planets for granted, but when I find myself lacking in faith, I can look up at the night sky and it puts things in perspective for me. There is no way to understand everything I am seeing, and that’s very humbling,” Kevin said.

Kevin has many hobbies to occupy his time, but hopes to spend more time enjoying astronomy, especially after he retires.

“There is no way in my lifetime that I’m going to get a complete mastery it, but it’s a lot of fun.”

Pictured, left: A representation of our solar system, from the Sun to Pluto. The planets are depicted – in order - by classical Greco-Roman astronomical symbols, along with some of their notable characteristics.