When Dustin Bell was 14, he watched his father, Les, work in a machine shop. Today, the father and son are teaching the trade together at Brightpoint, carrying machining into the next generation. And while the technology has evolved, the need for skilled machinists hasn’t. From the cars we drive and aircraft we fly to medical devices and everyday items, machining is behind more of our world than most of us realize. In this edition of Meet the Major, Dustin and Les share what keeps them excited about the field and why they believe it continues to offer students a challenging and rewarding path forward.

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Aneitra Viney, a former patient care associate, wanted a career where she could give back. Thanks to Brightpoint, she connected with a profession that does just that: pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Although she had a bachelor’s degree in hand, Clarissa Perry was unsure about her career path. A soul-searching six months of hiking the Appalachian Trail connected her with tradespeople who sparked her next move: learning how to weld.

At Brightpoint, Heilie Sheppard positioned herself for a job she loves in machining and career advancement in mechanical engineering.

When Billy Whorley interviewed at Church & Dwight and learned the company was willing to make an investment in his education, he was sold on the job. Soon after starting, Billy earned Lean Practitioner certification through Church & Dwight’s partnership with the Community College Workforce Alliance (CCWA). A year later, he’s earned two additional certifications and enrolled in Brightpoint’s industrial electricity CSC to keep advancing his career.

After making a career jump from electrician to designer, Jeremy Collins returned to the college to complete the electrical engineering technology degree he started 25 years earlier.

Daniel McCloud started his associates degree in machining while still in high school, and then scored an internship with Rolls Royce that turned into a full-time job. Now he has returned to the college to build his business skills as he starts his own business.

Tanner Lester started taking classes at the college while still in high school; he leveraged his interests in drawing and design to become a lead draftsman for a housing developer.