News

Meet the Graduate: Trevor Brush

Thanks in part to The Career Academy, Trevor Brush graduated from Southeast Community College on May 14 with a Manufacturing Engineering Technology degree from the Milford Campus and a world of career possibilities. One of his instructors in the Engineering Pathway was Charles Hildebrand, an instructor in SCC’s Design & Drafting Technology program. It made his decision to enroll in SCC an easy one.

“TCA definitely played a role in my decision to attend SCC. Everything directly transferred,” Brush said. “It also helped that we have smaller class sizes and I know everyone in my program. It is not like UNL or somewhere where you could have more than 100 people in your class, people you don’t know.”

Brush graduated from Lincoln East in 2020 and took a gap year which was triggered by COVID. He worked at Hy-Vee to save money for college and created several 3-D items at home including an Ironman helmet which lights up. He originally enrolled in the Precision Machining and Automation Technology program but quickly figured out he liked the design aspect better than the making aspect of a product.

“I started in the machine shop and was having a lot of fun with it but I found I was really missing the design aspect,” he explained. “When I found out there was a room full of 3-D printers and CAD-capable computers upstairs, I thought that sounded fun so I looked into it. I ended up switching at the end of the year.”

His favorite part about this program is being able to work with his hands and build things. His dream job is working in industrial light magic or some other special effects job. Until then, Brush is searching for a 3-D printing-related job in Lincoln. He would also like to thank Program Chair Lynnette Frey for her belief in him and his classmates.

“Lynnette has been an excellent instructor,” said Brush. “She has an incredible amount of patience and I appreciate it. We have classes with 90% guys and she puts up with us really well. I thoroughly appreciate her for what she’s done. This program has been two years of building stuff and fun.”

Jennifer Snyder
Communications Specialist
402-323-3393
jsnyder@southeast.edu