There is a quiet confidence to Davenport senior Bryson Dingman.
Sitting in an office chair and talking about his aviation class, he speaks softly but doesn’t hesitate. His mother, Jennifer Anderson, sometimes jumped in, pointing out an extra detail that the humble senior didn’t mention.
But aerospace engineering brings a smile to his face.
Bryson said taking aviation in his freshman year at Davenport High School set him on a course in this direction.
He wants to go into aerospace engineering after graduation and is well on his way there.
“We have a good flight sim. We’ve been working on different projects, gliders, different stuff like that, which is fun,” he said. “I liked the aviation classes that we have at Davenport, so it kind of pushed me further into the aviation side of engineering.”
Bryson took two years of pre-engineering at Central Tech. While he’s not exactly sure what he plans to do in aerospace, he does want to be handson and perhaps get into designing.
It’s this dedication that Dingman also brings to the baseball field.
While he’s only lived in Davenport since sixth grade, he’s been playing off and on since the T-ball level. In his sophomore year, he made All-Conference. Bryson likes it because it’s a strategy game, and while he enjoys hitting, pitching is the spot for him.
Bryson’s coming back after shoulder surgery last year, and is hoping to once again take the pitcher’s mound. He wasn’t completely on the bench last year, and could still hit.
He spoke of the experience in a grounded way, as though he took it all in stride.
This is one of Bryson’s strengths, according to his former coach, Brett Case.
“The thing about Bryson is he is going to show up every day and work. He is a ‘bring your lunch pail to work’ type of player. As a freshman, we needed him to step in and fill a big role as we lost a few seniors the year before. He handled himself well. There were some ups and downs, but he grew through it all,” Case said.
He added that when Bryson is on the field, he stays in the moment and doesn’t get rattled, taking it pitch-by-pitch.
“He can do anything he wants with his future. If it’s college ball or just going to school, he will work and be successful, I had no doubt about that,” Case said.
“As a coach, you hope that you have had enough of an impression to help them be a great dad and a great person. Whatever direction Bryson chooses, I know he will be those, and that’s what it’s all about in the end.”
For now, Bryson is planning to start at Tulsa Community College for his associate’s degree and then hopefully transfer to Oklahoma State University, where he’ll get more hands-on with his education. He’s looking forward to going into the air chamber wind tunnels and working in 3-D printing.
While he’s still trying to wrap his head around the fact that it’s the last semester of his senior year, he’s looking forward to college and beyond.
In the meantime, he’s looking to spend his time focusing on school, his family, baseball, and helping out his community when he can. Currently, Bryson volunteers at his church -- Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Chandler -- and is sure to always hold the door open for people and being polite and respectful. He’s also helped out at baseball camps. However, the best advice he can give to his fellow underclassmen -- “Not to focus on what other people think about you.”