Austin Bruhn, Machinist 3rd Class, Speaks at Leigh High School
Launch the media gallery 1 playerA 2013 Leigh High School graduate, Austin Bruhn, Machinist 3rd Class in the U.S. Navy, returned to his alma mater to speak to a group of high school students on Tuesday, September 8.
Bruhn became the second former Leigh graduate to speak to the sophomore Exploratory Careers class and other interested junior and senior students as part of the “Successful Leigh-ders” project. For more information on the project, see our other featured speaker article, Kamin Held!
Bruhn is the second of 16 speakers scheduled to speak to high school students this semester. One speaker is scheduled for each of the career clusters recognized by the state of Nebraska. Bruhn spoke about a very broad career cluster called Government/Military/Public Administration.
Upon graduation, Bruhn joined the U.S. Navy and began his training to become a nuclear engineer. By the time he is finished, he will have received the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering through the Navy’s various training schools. He will then go on to be deployed on either an aircraft carrier ship or a submarine.
Bruhn shared with students that his reason for entering the military was to serve his country while having his schooling paid for so he would not end up with student debt. He also looked forward to travelling to many different places. He answered many student questions about life in the military and his experiences thus far. He was an excellent public speaker, which he attributed to his high school education and participation in activities like speech and FFA.
“Austin did an fantastic job speaking to our students,” Mrs. Megan Hillen said. “I think it was especially beneficial for them to hear from someone so close in age. We have two or three students seriously considering a military career path, so it was very lucky for us that Austin was able to take some of his leave time to visit our students.”