For Mehki Rippey, a University of Virginia fourth-year mechanical engineering student who graduates May 18, the undergraduate experience has been one heck of a ride.
This summer he will start a full-time career with his dream employer, Universal Destinations and Experiences.
One of the attractions Rippey worked on as a recurring Universal Creative summer intern was Universal Studios Florida’s highly anticipated Epic Universe, which officially opens the week after he graduates.
I worked with the dragons, up high and in all different places.
He couldn’t share specifics, but based on previews given to news outlets, suffice it to say there are dragons involved.
“I was on the show team, so it was special effects, animatronics, visuals and audio,” he said. “What was different was the level of immersion. There’s animatronics all through the land. I worked with the dragons, up high and in all different places. I tested a roller coaster, and I helped with design pieces throughout the land.”
Rippey’s childhood aspiration was to grow up to build roller coasters. Just ask him about El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure and hear him light up.
“Basically this wooden roller coaster is doing things that a wooden roller coaster shouldn’t be doing,” he said. “Like an 80 degree almost straight down drop. The airtimes when you are going over the hills and when you’re lifted out of your seat are extremely violent; you’re really thrown around.”
He laughed, adding. “It’s super intense, but so much fun.”
Inspired by several of New Jersey’s theme parks — there were 17 at last count — and the K’Nex toys he used for building roller coaster replicas in his childhood, he consulted the internet about what kind of training he needed to achieve his goal.
“Google said that mechanical engineering is the way to do it,” Rippey said. “I stuck with it.”
He ended up choosing UVA’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, where his research told him he would get a world-class education. He also ended up receiving world-class support from UVA enroute to fulfilling his dream, including the UVA Alumni Association’s Kishore Scholarship. The award enables a rising fourth-year student “to continue leading a life of public service that inspires others and brings lasting, beneficial change to the community.”
The First Hill
But despite his evolving success in themed entertainment, Rippey initially had doubts that his interest was a realistic career choice. The people he saw in videos talking about the rides they had created didn’t look like him. He assumed he would have to adapt to something more attainable, such as hardware design for consumer technology.
UVA Engineering helped open his eyes to the possibilities. He relied on faculty such as his academic adviser, Sarah Sun, and the Engineering School’s many resources.
I came in feeling intimidated by the internship search process, and the team reminded me how you don’t have to hit every single qualification on a job posting.
“The Center for Engineering Career Development was really helpful with reaffirming my ability to secure an internship,” Rippey said. “I came in feeling intimidated by the internship search process, and the team reminded me how you don’t have to hit every single qualification on a job posting.”
Fate clearly had plans for Rippey. He was serving as the first-year council president of UVA’s chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers, where he led the development of panels and social events, when he attended the NSBE Annual Convention, which happened to be held that year in Anaheim, California.
Anaheim is, of course, the home of Disneyland, which famously set the template for every theme park that would come after it.
The First Turn
Rippey sat in on a Disney-hosted panel on theme park engineering. On the way out, he noticed an engineer whose Universal Florida polo shirt sported the name of a ride the man had worked on, “VelociCoaster.”
Rippey knew “as a nerd and as a fan” that the ride was “one of the big new roller coasters that had just opened.” The two struck up a conversation, and eventually a friendship.
Over a year later, at his contact’s suggestion and with the help of UVA Engineering staff members such as James Bland, a winner of a 2024 Undergraduate Advising Excellence Award, Rippey applied to the Big Break Foundation Inspire Talent Program, which supports helping students find meaningful careers in the themed entertainment industry.
Rippey lauded Bland for his consistent support over the past four years.
“I think just the way that he nurtures his relationships with the students is super inspiring,” Rippey said. “His care for people is impactful. If he says he’ll do something, he’ll do it.”
Rippey said that he has sought to emulate Bland in his own various leadership activities, whether as NSBE president or in his outreach to prospective students.
Still, despite a great resume, skills and references, Rippey had no belief anything would come of it. UVA is known for educating skilled engineers who go on to be recognized leaders in their fields. However, he felt that other schools might be better known for training future designers of roller coasters and themed rides.
Yet two weeks later, the CEO of the foundation asked, “Can you fly to California in three weeks?”
Pitch Increases Speed
The first day was daunting. “I was the only one that was an underclassman,” Rippey said. “Everyone else was either a graduate student, or some were already early professionals. I was the only one under 21. So I was feeling outclassed and out of place on paper.”
Rippey nevertheless stepped up his networking each day, leading up to the final night, when he met a senior vice president for Universal’s global operations. Though the then-second-year student was nervous, he had practiced his pitch in the hope of landing an internship.
“I told him, ‘I’ve wanted to work in this industry since I was a kid, and I didn’t see myself here until I met one of the engineers at your company. I know I’m young, but I’m passionate. I want to do this.’”
Rippey’s enthusiasm was persuasive.
“[The senior vice president] literally got my phone number, got my email and said to expect to hear something in a week,” Rippey said. “I think when you have things like this, you kind of try to tell yourself that it’s not going to go anywhere. Not to get your hopes up.”
But Rippey did hear back. The train had left the station, and so far, he said, it’s been an epic thrill.
Return to Station
During his summer 2023 internship, Rippey served as a ride and show mechanical intern for the core group of engineers. He returned to Grounds that fall and, as a student in the Thermal Fluids Lab course, developed an experimental procedure to study the effect of filters on the volume of flow-through — findings which, in theory, could have future theme park applications. Fluid-based systems like pneumatic and hydraulic actuators are used in park attractions.
It’s super cool to work on something that’s like a monument. What you do in this industry will stand the test of time and continue to make memories for more people.
In the summer of 2024, his work at Universal Florida expanded to include involvement on specific project teams. He collaborated with the technical entertainment team for Universal's Mega Movie Parade (re-opened on July 4) and the show team for the How to Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk in Epic Universe.
“It’s been a blessing,” Rippey said. “It’s super cool to work on something that’s like a monument. What you do in this industry will stand the test of time and continue to make memories for more people.”
Some of his work accomplishments so far include teaming up with vendors to create 3D-printed prototypes, analyzing safety data and creating safety maintenance guidelines and, most recently, assisting the simultaneous installation, on-site testing and commissioning of Mega Movie Parade and How to Train Your Dragon.
“In addition to his regular internship responsibilities,” the UVA Alumni Association notes, “he woke up at 3 a.m. to tour and test Harry Potter attractions and led accessibility testing for water slides to improve guest experiences for riders with disabilities, all while peppering staff with questions to better understand all aspects of roller coaster engineering.”
Even though his work focuses more on the overall experience (outside companies tend to be the ones building the rides), Rippey said classes such as Fluid Dynamics and Mechatronics directly relate to the work he’s doing.
“I enjoyed working with Mehki when he took my Mechatronics course last year,” Gavin Garner, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, said. “I could tell that he was not simply interested in learning the material just to get a good grade, which he did, but that he wanted to become empowered by his newfound knowledge and skills to make the world better.”
Appreciating the Ride
Rippey won’t be the first to work in STEM in his family, but he will be the first engineer.
He credits his parents, Tyesha Fuller of New Jersey and William Rippey Jr. of Virginia, for their support. His mom, a point-of-care specialist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, drove Rippey down to Florida to start his internship.
Rippey added that his girlfriend, Zoë Jenkins, a fourth-year student with a double major in education and politics, is the one who encouraged him to attend Big Break, even though he would be missing classes.
In part due to the path that he has blazed, there is now a Theme Park Engineering Group at UVA, with students Cavan Meade and Sydney Matthews as the inaugural co-presidents. The club recently hosted their first speaker, Gregory Lewis, a design engineer at Skyline Attractions who earned both his B.S. in mechanical engineering and his M.S. in mechanical and aerospace engineering from UVA, in 2015 and 2017, respectively.
Rippey said he was proud to have been consulted as the group formed.
“They kind of leaned on me as an adviser,” he said. “And I kind of called myself like an ‘uncle,’ someone who has done this stuff before.”
