July 2023 Student Spotlight
July 4, 2023
Jace Gust shows us how someone from any background can come and be successful at WyoTech. Having grown up on a farm outside of a small town of about 29 people in Northern Minnesota, Jace says that it taught him a sense of responsibility he wouldn’t have otherwise had. “Growing up on the farm it really puts you into that place where you have a lot of responsibility. I grew up at a young age having to take care of cattle, waking up before school every morning to feed the cows that I used for 4H. My teachers always told us to get our homework done right after school, but I was never able to do that because, in wintertime, you only had a couple hours of light after school, so I always had to get all the work done on the farm first, then would come in and do homework, eat, then repeat.” While growing up, Jace and his dad rebuilt a tractor when he was around 12 years old. “We tore it apart, split it in half, rebuilt it from the ground up, and that ended up becoming my tractor.” He says that he is extremely proud of that project, and that it was one of the main things that got him into wrenching. As he got a little older, he began racing racecars on a dirt track full time in the summer, so every weekend he was working on some kind of project.
After graduating high school, Jace attended a university for about 6 months. Taking place during the COVID pandemic, there was a few things that happened and he ended up going home. He worked on the farm again for a summer, while his dad really encouraged him to further his knowledge in the technical world, because it was something he really loved to do. Jace did some looking on the internet for tech schools and found WyoTech. He looked into it further and loved everything he read. Signing up for the Diesel program and adding Applied Service Management as his specialty, he got to put his love for hands-on work and passion for turning wrenches to use when they got to replace the entire wiring harness on a Kenworth truck. He also learned how to diagnose things, and described this as a very satisfying feeling- “There’s a big sense of accomplishment when you figure out a problem that you can’t hear, see or even feel for that matter.”
Jace says that him going so far from home was a challenge for his family. “I don’t have any family out here or anything like that, I’m over a thousand miles away from home and completely on my own.” He also says that paying for school was a bit of a challenge. “I saved up enough money when I was younger to try and pay for school, then last summer I made sure I worked my tail off to get enough money so I could come to WyoTech and pay for it myself.” He offers a piece of advice to those looking into coming to WyoTech- “The biggest thing is to ask questions. If you’re coming here, make sure you’re open to any information that anyone is willing to give you. The amount of knowledge that’s in this school is just extraordinary.”
About WyoTech
Forge your path at WyoTech in Laramie, Wyoming. We are a destination school for future technicians pursuing full-time training in Automotive, Diesel, Collision & Refinishing, and Welding. *Pair your core training with six specialty programs in Street Rod, High-Performance Power Trains, Applied Service Management, Chassis Fabrication, Advanced Diesel, and Trim & Upholstery.
*No specialty program is necessary to graduate from our Welding program.