Hello, my name is Jonathan Ward. I am originally from the roaring metropolis of Sanford, NC. Since leaving Sanford at 19, I have lived in a fair number of states in the South Eastern United States. Specifically and in chronological order, I have lived in Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, and have completed the loop and currently live back in North Carolina. Otherwise known as the good Carolina.

I am married to the absolute best person on the planet. She is my best friend and the love of my life. We met in Hartsville, SC at a little hole in the wall wine bar called Vintage.

I am the youngest of three (technically four, but my sister Lauren passed when she was two years old). Born to Sandra and Terry Ward in 1988 when they were already thirty-eight years of age. Thus I had a fairly unique perspective during my formative years. Most of my friends had parents that were not much older than my brother, who is twelve years my senior. Funny enough, I have found myself in a similar situation. My wife and I welcomed our daughter to the world in 2022…right before I turned thirty-five.

My education up until high school is nothing to brag about. I was essentially allowed to graduate with a whooping 1.8 GPA due to me being a really nice and respectful student. I only had one set of classes that I cared about and had any talent at, and that was drafting. I had no clue what I wanted to do after high school, but a summer of pouring and finishing concrete made me hyper aware of what I DIDN’T want to do. Thus I settled on attending Central Carolina Community College, conveniently located in my home town of Sanford. At the time there was a new major being offered that combined Mechanical, Electric, Robotic, and Software Engineering into one super degree. It even had a cool name. Mechatronic Engineering. I absolutely loved it, and ended up graduating top of my class.

I have spent the last fifteen years of my life working in nuclear power. I currently work for Duke Energy and am located at the Shearon Harris Nuclear Plant in New Hill, North Carolina. Working nuclear has enabled to me live in multiple cities and states and affords me a very happy life. My current title (which I have had for over a decade) is Nuclear Work Order Planner. The simplest way to explain it is that I write step by step instructions for performing maintenance on or installing components in the nuclear power plant.

I don’t really have a whole lot in the way of community engagement, but I did compete in Bible Drill for 5 years. Extra points if you know what bible drill even is. Essentially it is knowing the bible to the point where you compete to show that you know the bible better than anyone else in your age group. From memorizing passages, to being able to find specific verses the fastest. It is kind of a wild concept, and not exactly something I think Jesus would be super into. I was amazing at it.

I have always thought about starting a program that offers self defense training to minorities and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Not so much a charity, but more like firearms training and learning to recognize the signs of an impending attack and learn to be able to remove themselves from the situation if possible. I know that members of the LGBTQ+ community are more left leaning and therefore anti-gun to an extent, but I think it is insane to be a part of a group of people that have a higher than average chance to be the target of violence and not have the ability or knowledge to defend themselves.

To wrap this up, I also enjoy reading and writing. I grew up hunting and fishing and still enjoy both when I am able. Playing videogames is my late night guilty pleasure.