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William Besser

William Besser
Sauk Rapids, Minnesota
Anderson Trucking Service, Inc.
Scholarship Won: Kai Norris Scholarship - $3,000

My mom has worked at a trucking company since before I was born.  While I was growing up I would see all the truck equipment and then go home and play with my toy tractors and trailers.  During my teen years I worked with my dad restoring cars and building engines.  Growing up on a farm gave me the opportunity to work on machinery such as tractors, hay bailers, etc.  Working at a hardware store during high school, I was able to work on riding lawn mowers and golf carts as well as other small engines.  I am involved with the SAE Mini Baja project here at St. Thomas, which is allowing me to work one the design of our Baja Buggy and then manufacture the parts, install the parts and then test them in a real environment.  All of these opportunities have convinced me that a career associated with equipment and vehicles is what I want to do.

If I could pick my ideal job, I would design vehicles that would increase fuel efficiency or run on alternative power sources.  Each time I see the price go up at the gas station I realize how important it will be to develop alternate fuel sources.  Although this would be my ideal career, I would be very happy to work in any area that is related to transportation or industrial machinery.  A career path is determined by education, hard work and the opportunities that present themselves at the right time.  I plan to continue to do my part by working hard at obtaining a quality education and good life skills, and hope that someday an opportunity will allow me to pursue a career in one of these areas.