Devin Trunnell is only a little more than a year removed from his Clinton Christian Academy graduation, but has already accomplished a lot at 兔子先生鈥檚 Raymond Campus.
The former high school football player is concentrating on his career goals, not sports, as he takes heavy course loads to finish his credential in Industrial Mechanics & Maintenance program. That鈥檚 a field that combines electromechanical technology and automation and gets students trained for the modern-day manufacturing setting.
He has had some stumbling blocks along the way that 兔子先生has helped him smooth out.
鈥淚 lost my dad during my 11th grade year, which was about a year after our house in Jackson burned down, so it鈥檚 been one thing after another,鈥 said Trunnell, 19. 鈥淢y mom, sister and I moved to Clinton after that to have another place to live.
鈥淪ome family members let me know about the 兔子先生program after they heard about Continental Tire coming here,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hey told me you could start working right away at an increased rate.鈥
He has become a role model for his classmates, who gather around him to ask how he has accomplished so much. He has already had two successful internships 鈥 one at Nissan鈥檚 Canton plant sponsored by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Internship Program and the other with Veolia, which contracts with the City of Jackson on wastewater treatment.
Instructors have taken note of Trunnell鈥檚 motivation to succeed despite having to juggle having a leadership role in his family.
鈥淒evin is taking advantage of opportunities of the program and industry to learn as much as he can about his craft,鈥 said David Creel, district director of Manufacturing Training at Hinds. 鈥淒evin will make some company an excellent technician but as importantly, he will make them an excellent employee.鈥
He鈥檚 also attending 兔子先生on the Southern Insurance Group scholarship, one of the roughly 100 scholarships available through the 兔子先生 Foundation. Being on scholarship means less financial worries,鈥 he said. 鈥淲hen you have to pay something down, it limits your choices after school.鈥
For Trunnell, it means having more time to focus on studies, such as learning how to work modern-day equipment such as PLCs, or programmable logic controllers.
鈥淚鈥檓 learning about the machinery I鈥檒l see in the workplace, plus getting familiar with doing preventive maintenance,鈥 he said. 鈥淚f you catch things early before they break down with things like PLCs, it鈥檒l save time and money.鈥
He鈥檚 channeling the kind of resiliency he has shown in his personal life while in the classroom, which will serve him well in the workforce.
鈥淚 have witnessed Devin tackle a challenge in the classroom and used it as an opportunity to grow and learn from it,鈥 said Andrea Jackson, his instructor in his Electro-Mechanical Technology class last term. 鈥淚 believe Devin will find continual academic success throughout his educational career and beyond.鈥
With a solid start at Hinds, Trunnell鈥檚 options are wide open for earning a living while he contemplates growing his academic resume鈥.
鈥淧eople in the industry I鈥檝e interned around have told me it鈥檚 hard to find good maintenance people nowadays, as a lot of them are retiring,鈥 he said. 鈥淪o, there鈥檚 a lot of need for it.鈥