Southwest Tech Spotlight: Trevor Landon
Southwest Tech Spotlight: Trevor Landon
Trevor has always enjoyed life on the farm and working with his hands. Throughout high school at Lancaster High school, he juggled his time between classes, football, wrestling, track, FFA, and helping out at various farms.
“I really enjoy being outside, I guess that’s why I have so much fun four-wheeling, working on the farm, and hunting.”
After graduating in 2011, Trevor wasn’t sure what his future would hold.
“I’ve always been very hands-on. That’s why I like the Ag industry, you work with your hands and don’t just sit at a desk.”
Growing up in Lancaster, Trevor knows many people who graduated from Southwest Tech that had good experiences.
“I knew that a technical school would be a better fit for me because of the low cost and the focus on agriculture. I chose Southwest Tech because it was close to home and I sure didn’t want to move to the city.”
Trevor first graduated from the Welding program at Southwest Tech and planned to begin his career with John Deere. When that didn’t work out, he came back and was accepted into the CNC Setup/Operation program. Because of his welding degree, the CNC short course made sense for Trevor. CNC is also working with metal and manufacturing, plus it was only a one-semester course.
Trevor was hired as a CNC operator right after graduation, but found that although it was a good job, this wasn’t what he wanted to spend his entire life doing. He didn’t want to carry out someone else’s decisions, he wanted to make the decisions.
“I knew that just getting a job in my field wouldn’t be satisfying to me in the long run. I want to have control over the way things are run and understand the decisions being made. When I noticed that many of my family members and friends own businesses and really seem to enjoy it, I decided I wanted that too.”
After a full year as a CNC operator, Trevor came back to Southwest Tech once again.
“While talking with Mindy Johnson in the Career Center, I realized that I could learn the day-to-day tasks by simply working on a farm, but I needed to know more about what goes on behind the scenes. A few personality and skill tests later, we determined that the Business Management program would help me in the future by preparing me to either run a small business or begin my own.”
Trevor started the Business Management program in January 2014. When he isn’t in class you can find him sitting in his tree stand wearing blaze orange during hunting season or helping out on the farm. After graduation, he plans to continue working his way up on the farm and, eventually, start his own business.