As a kid, Blake wanted to be a firefighter. Since the fire departments in southwest Wisconsin are volunteer, he began exploring careers that can be done outdoors.

“I like hands-on work and doing something different every day. High school tech ed classes helped me realize that carpentry would be a good fit for me.”

Blake was a strong athlete for the Iowa Grant Panthers participating in wrestling, football, and baseball. In March of 2012, Blake won the Division 3 State Championship in the 182 lb. weight class.

“I worked hard for that win. It was a great feeling.”

Blake continued his wrestling career at the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater.

“I knew some people at Whitewater and thought I would give college wrestling a try. It was really tough and very time consuming.”

He decided to major in Business, something that Whitewater is well-known for.

“Whitewater is a big business school. I thought it would be good to have a business background. I was there for two years and I just didn’t like what I was going for. I needed a change.”

Blake moved back home and enrolled at Southwest Tech.

“I knew that I had wanted to take the Building Trades – Carpentry program and Southwest Tech had it.”

Blake completed the program in less than a year and had a job before he graduated.

“We took a class trip to a house that Traditional Carpentry was working on. At the time, I was actually working for another company that was doing the masonry at the same house. They offered me a job and I took it.”

Blake still sees business in his future at some point.

“Maybe I’ll start my own construction business at some point and go from there.”