Inside SFS

Chris Baker ’95

Pilot, Southwest Airlines

Chris Baker may not have officially taken flight until after college, but thanks SFS for the introduction to math, science, and exploration that led him to become a pilot. Now a pilot for Southwest Airlines, Baker started flying in 2003, after graduating from the University of Arizona. He has been an airline pilot since 2007, and along with his wife and two young children, is based out of San Francisco when he’s not in the air.

“With SFS’s hands-on approach to math and science, and the way the school was run, kids had the opportunity to problem-solve, and were encouraged to be curious, get out and explore their environment, experiment, which really applies to what I do now. That was a great start to exploring the world,” Baker reflects. He remembers setting up his science fair projects and experiments each year as well, and particularly enjoys remembering Pamela’s First Grade class and digging up dinosaur bones as part of a paleontology unit (that still exists in First Grade today!).

Baker sees SFS as an influence in the person he’s grown up to be as well. “Being in a diverse city like San Francisco, and at a school like SFS that celebrates diversity definitely shaped my worldviews,” he notes. “One of the things that I love most about my career is that I’ve had the chance to visit so many new places and interact with people from all different walks of life. It’s given me a great appreciation for the diversity of our country as well, a lesson that really comes from my beginnings at SFS.”

Posted June 06, 2018