"There's no shame in getting your hands dirty for your money.  I think the trades are great!  I don't want anybody to ever feel discouraged about being a tradesman or tradeswoman."


Bryn Otto (GISH Class of 2022), has been making a splash in the welding arena and [around the world] on social media ever since high school.


Bryn sits down with "The GIPS Cast" to share his journey from "settling" for welding as his high school Pathway, to finishing college early thanks to high school dual credits, to a young, international leader in the arena of welding with over 55,000 social media followers. Along the way, he shares his passion for Career Technical Education (CTE) and how sometimes finding one lightbulb moment is all it takes. 
 

Because building a career you're proud of starts by saying 'yes' to opportunities.

 

#WeAreGIPS 

 

 

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Mitchell Roush  00:00

Mitchell, welcome back to "The GIPS Cast", a conversation based podcast exploring the voices of Grand Island Public Schools in Nebraska. I'm your host. Mitchell Roush, Communications Director here at GIPS. And as always, I'm excited to bring to you stories from all corners of one of Nebraska's largest, most diverse school districts, because here we're driven by our mission of every student every day, a success. We're glad you're here now. I am excited to bring to you our last episode in our series called Beyond GIPS, for this school year, we feature a few voices every year from notable gi PS alumni. We like to check in with them and hear what they're up to in their careers and in their communities. Because, well, part of what makes the work of public education so meaningful is seeing how passionate folks continue to make an impact after graduation. So the the conversation you're going to hear now is with a true entrepreneur and forward thinking individual, especially in the CTE field. So he's from the class of 2022 we have Brynn auto who has established himself as a young voice and creative leader in the sector of welding. He had an incredible experience through the pathways and Academy system at Gish and discovered his passion for welding, and has kind of slowly started building a social media empire of sorts. He's got a huge following on Tiktok, a successful podcast, professional sponsors, and has started his career in the home community of Grand Island, working for dramco tools. So he's got a really great story, a passion for welding, but more importantly, has a really good entrepreneurial mind, and is pursuing a lot of creative opportunities for personal branding. It's a really great story. Hope you enjoy it. Give a listen.

 

Bryn Otto  02:13

My name is Bryn auto. I'm a welder at dramco tool in Grand Island Nebraska.

 

Mitchell Roush  02:19

Bryn, thank you so much for being here.

 

Bryn Otto  02:22

Thank you. Thank you for the invite. Yeah, it's an honor. I listen.

 

Mitchell Roush  02:25

Rock on! Well, thank you for listening. We're super excited to feature you and to share your story. You've got a lot of cool stuff going on. We're really proud of what you're doing, and so we just want to get you a chance to share your voice with our listeners in the community. So first of all, this is part of our alumni series. So obviously you're a graduate of Grand Island Senior High. When did you graduate from Gish? And what Academy were you a part of?

 

Bryn Otto  02:50

I graduated in 2022 we were the first class to go all three, four, or all four years through the academy system, and I was in the Academy of technical sciences.

 

Mitchell Roush  03:02

that's right, you were part of that first four year class to fully go through the whole thing. So you're like, a trailblazer.

 

Bryn Otto  03:08

Our class motto, or something like that was the lab rats.

 

Mitchell Roush  03:13

I dig that you learned a lot, right? That's really cool. I really like that a lot. So, and I know you and I have connected before, but we've got the mic turned on here, and I just would love for you to talk a little bit about your experience at Gish, your experience as a student at Grand Island Public Schools. What was your experience like?

 

Bryn Otto  03:32

I was a I was a pretty average student. I mean, I think I got along with most of people in my class that I knew because we were, I think our year was a record year for the amount of people that graduated. Yeah, I'm sure it's been beat now. I mean, the classes are getting huge, but, but it was a big crew. Yeah, it was, it was huge. It was, like, it was a long graduation ceremony too. But, yeah, I got along pretty well. I was a pretty average student. I always strive for honor roll because my brothers were pretty smart. They they tried a lot harder than I did, but I still strive for honor roll at least. Yeah, a 3.0 but yeah. I mean, just an average student, I think.

 

Mitchell Roush  04:15

And throughout the experiences you had at Gish with like the career technical education and opportunities at CPI and everything, you kind of dove head first into that kind of area of focus. What was that like?

 

Bryn Otto  04:27

So first, you know, freshman exploration I got really lucky, Mr. Fife, he was my freshman exploration teacher that year, and I'd known Mr. Fife forever, because I graduated with his youngest son, and he coached us in football all the way down to flag football when we were kids. Rock on. And he really, you know, they have us take these courses throughout that freshman year trying to find what your passion is and what you would want to do when you when it's time to enter the workforce. Hours, and I really had no clue. Like, a lot of freshmen don't have any clue what they want to do.

 

Mitchell Roush  05:05

I didn't know when I graduated college, so, like, it's totally okay.

 

Bryn Otto  05:09

I got really lucky that they did do all those quizzes because it it narrowed it down. Okay? I learned better with my hands. All right, I don't want to go to college. I did end up going to college, but at the time, I didn't, and I learned better with my hands, so it shows the Academy of technical sciences for me and and then it came to a pathway, and I was like, Well, I have no idea what I want to do, and we have to list our top five what we think we would want to do. And I put welding in there at five, and that's what I got picked into. Because it was pretty low that year, but it's been up since then, and the only reason I threw it in there is because my dad did it when I was younger. So I just got super lucky that I got placed into that one. And I think it was a perfect match.

 

Mitchell Roush  05:54

Like a duck to water. Man, yeah, that freshman exploration piece. And when you when you think sometimes about the academies and all the opportunities, it can almost feel daunting right to be a 1415, year old freshman and think like, I gotta choose, I gotta kind of figure this out, but knowing that that freshman experience helped you kind of narrow that focus based on your strengths. That's really encouraging to hear.

 

Bryn Otto  06:19

Yeah, and I mean, another thing is, I got along so well with the the teachers that kind of, like the gen ed teachers that would cover the Academy of technical science as students. Yeah, because, like I said, I learned best with my hands. Like I couldn't just have a packet and and fill it out. I wasn't, you know, I wasn't. I didn't strive for much to be honest, just honor roll. But the teachers that I did have in there knew how to teach me what was optimal for me to learn, you know.

 

Mitchell Roush  06:50

And that's that's a common thing to hear about. You know, meaningful educational experiences is they're meeting you where you're at, like knowing how you learn best, and wanting you to feel confident in the classroom and in whatever it is you want to do beyond the classroom, taking that a little bit further, right? You said that. You said that welding was like your fifth out of your top five interest, right? And then that's ended up where you landed. So talk to me about kind of exploring that a little bit. You said your father's a welder and everything. But when you finally strapped on a welding helmet, what? What is this like for you?

 

Bryn Otto  07:20

It was, it was a struggle. I had, like, some temperament problems, like I wasn't, wasn't very good in my own head. So I would get so frustrated so fast, if I, if I would stick a rod onto the metal without starting a weld, which is pretty popular. It's common when you're when you first start, when you're new to the to the profession, right, right? And that was actually an explore class with Mr. Naylor. He taught explore class, and there was welding and woodworking and machining, but once we got into that welding part, yeah, I was getting frustrated, super but that's kind of what, because I couldn't do it well, it's kind of what motivated me, which isn't a common thing, and I'm quick to give up pretty Yeah, or I was at the time, but for some reason, that stuck with me and just motivated me to learn it better and try to perform better.

 

Mitchell Roush  08:13

It's kind of a cliche thing to say, and we hear it a lot. I'm sure you've heard it a lot. I've heard it a lot, that concept of like you have to fail to get better, or you learn from your mistakes, like those platitudes. Like, sometimes it kind of irks me when I hear that, but there's truth in that. And it sounds like you learned an awful lot just again, like experience with your hands, but also what not to do, what to do and what goes well, what doesn't go well, right?

 

Bryn Otto  08:38

And it was a little bit of that you had to fail to learn best. But which is a common topic in the trades, and I don't necessarily agree with that completely, yeah, that that should be the way to learn. It is still the way I kind of learned, but it there was like an aha moment, like I knew when I had it, yeah, and, and that's a the that was the real motivating factor, once that Aha. And collaborating with with your classmates was huge in welding, just because, you know, maybe somebody had more experience. Like I said, my dad did it, but I never learned until that class. But if somebody had known before, then if you're friends with your peers, and you can go ask them, or even not, and you can meet them and then get their contact later down the line in the industry, if you're slower or they need work, then you could reach out to them or vice versa.

 

Mitchell Roush  09:26

Yeah, you're learning together alongside classmates. That's that group learning experience that's super valuable. So you said an aha moment when you knew when you had it. What was your aha moment? Actually,

 

Bryn Otto  09:37

I read a comment on a social media post of a really, of a nice weld, but he was showing his progress, I think, which is later what I did. And somebody said, You got to really focus on that puddle on an uphill weld, because, like a flat, if you're in a flat position, welding on a bench or something, it's a lot easier. But he said to focus on the toes of the puddle, which means the edges of your weld. And. And I remember that the next day. Luckily, I'm surprised I didn't forget it the next day, when I went into class, I remember that, and I tried it, and that was an aha moment, like I really that's where I need to be watching.

 

Mitchell Roush  10:12

You could see the immediate difference in the performance that you had in your welts. Oh yeah, it's awesome. Hey, you never know when you're going to pick up a good nugget like that, and it's going to, like, shift everything right? So sometimes it's as simple as learning that nugget and focusing on the right thing. That's really cool. So, um, what? What is the, what's the hardest part about welding, especially when you think about, like, as you were getting started and spending a lot of time on this throughout three years of your high school career.

 

Bryn Otto  10:41

I think this is pretty common. It's not necessarily the welding itself, but it's once you get out into the industry, you're alone in your own dark helmet, right? I mean, it's super dark lenses. It's an isolating thing, yeah, for about 1012, hours a day, eight hours depends. But I mean, so you're alone in your own thoughts. If you got music, you're listening to your music. A lot of people, like, I wear earbuds while I work or or have a radio going in the background, but I mean just no socialization all day at work, or minimal unless you're working with a co worker or something. But yeah, so sometimes you're overthinking every you have time to think about everything in your entire life for that whole day.

 

Mitchell Roush  11:26

Man, that's really interesting, and that that would be quite an impactful discovery to make, right? Like, that's, I mean, that's probably not something that gets an awful lot of of the spotlight when you talk about the trades, or you talk about CTE, or anything like that, is also both the positive and potential negative impacts of a job that could potentially be isolating. So what, what was that transition like for you?

 

Bryn Otto  11:52

Um, you know, it wasn't so bad. I kind of like working solo cool, but at times, you know, on a bad day, you're You're thinking too much, but you can always collaborate with a co worker, go talk to your boss or something if you got questions, just if you need that little bit. But other than the welding itself, like actually physical, physically laying a structural weld, I think that would be the biggest thing, which is kind of common, honestly, I've heard a lot of welders say that. That's what made me think of that answer, yeah, but it's something you don't really notice until you hear from somebody else.

 

Mitchell Roush  12:26

You're in it, and then you're like, oh, oh, okay, so this is what it's like. Yeah, that makes sense. Because even even when you're going through it as like, a class or your apprenticeship or anything like that, you're not spending nearly as much time into it as you are when it's your full time job.

 

Bryn Otto  12:44

No, and in class, when it comes to welding class, I mean, you could spend just as much time in a booth welding as you could in the classroom. I mean, that's something a lot of people don't realize too. I'm sure it's the same with like, residential construction or something. There's a lot of codes that you have to learn.

 

Mitchell Roush  13:01

Yeah, yeah, absolutely all the regulations, making sure you're doing it right, all that stuff. So you talk about the classroom experience. So obviously, you spent a lot of your time at CPI, the career pathways Institute, and I know that you did a registered apprenticeship with Chief fabrication while you were a student. So just talk to me a little bit about what was, what was your experience like going through CPI doing an apprenticeship, and why is that unique experience helpful? Why was that helpful to you as you pursued your career after high school?

 

Bryn Otto  13:32

So the thing with welding through Senior High is that makes it so much more special is that CPI partnered with Central Community College. So we were in their weld shop, but you were also getting credits for towards a college degree free of charge to you. So I mean, I win, win. Yeah, I graduated Senior High 2022, and then college the next year, because I had half my degree done because I took a couple of Gen Eds while I was in high school as well, but and night classes too. A lot of people, I mean, with the block scheduling, you have a couple open class periods if you if you pass every class up to that senior year, yeah. So I would go to work until noon, from five to noon, go to two classes in the afternoon, and then go back to work and then go back to school for night classes. So it worked out perfect for me. My day was full, and I was either making money or learning more.

 

Mitchell Roush  14:35

So you're keeping busy, you're making money, you're learning and you you're gaining more experience to do what you want to do, and again, just just to say one more time, like you gained all this experience in the welding profession while you were a high school student, but had so much dual credit by the time you graduated high school, you were done with your college degree in another year after Right. Right? It's incredible, right? That's incredible.

 

Bryn Otto  15:01

It's set up for success. I mean, they really, especially the instructors at CPI, Mr. Hawley as well, Mrs. Luthi placi with the CCC welding instructors, is just like it was a dream team. They wanted everybody to succeed as fast as possible. And a lot of us did.

 

Mitchell Roush  15:22

Absolutely. That's what the program's designed to do. And that's, it's just, it's cool to see, and it's great to hear when, when it's someone like yourself telling that story to say, like, this is how I discovered it, this is how it helped me, and this is how I got a leg up. That's, that's what we want to do. You mentioned Mr. Holly and Miss lui Paschke, So was there any other teachers that that had an impact on you, or staff members that really helped you along the way? I

 

Bryn Otto  15:47

read that comment or that question, and it's got to be Mr. Hanafi. I mean, he was an English teacher, and I didn't.

 

Mitchell Roush  15:54

I went to college with Mr. Hannaford. Oh, really, I did.

 

Bryn Otto  15:57

I didn't care for much Gen Ed's classes to the point, or at the point when I when I fell in love with welding, and I knew that's the class, like I would wait every day just to to for that class. But Mr. Hanna fee was one of the teachers that made it easier for me to understand and learn, and his projects, I mean, he cared, he really cared about your education and how to make it easier for you to succeed. So I think he's really the one that made me come up with that answer that the teachers were hands on and would try to teach you the best way that you can learn. He put a lot of effort into that, even though our class was pretty rough. I don't even remember, or I don't know if he'll remember our entire class, but we were pretty rough on him, but he still, you could tell he wanted every student to succeed.

 

Mitchell Roush  16:45

He was there for the right reasons, and wanted to make sure you got what you needed for sure. And that's, I mean, selfishly, like, that's one thing I never get tired of hearing because, like anybody that that finishes with their degree and and has a plan of what they want to do, they know that there were teachers along the way that inspired them, and I love hearing that Mr. Henna fee was one of those for you.

 

Bryn Otto  17:04

Yeah, he was, he was great. He made learning fun.

 

Mitchell Roush  17:07

That's awesome, and that's okay, like, it's okay to have fun in the classroom while you're learning stuff. So get the best of both worlds. Yeah, I love that.

 

GIPS COMMERCIAL  17:17

public schools news flash says the two teachers are heroes, and that's why Grand Island Public Schools is hiring for substitute teachers across the district. The best part about being a substitute teacher, gi PS has a new higher pay rates, and you can pick your own school. Go to gi ps.org/employment for more information and to apply today. Will you join our team of everyday heroes? Go to G, i, p, s.org/employment, to learn more about joining our team of substitute teachers.

 

Mitchell Roush  17:54

Let's pivot to social media now. All right, because this is another really cool part of your story that maybe some of our listeners may not be aware of so I'm just going to open the floor for you here. How has social media impacted your career journey? Because this, this is definitely a big part of what you do and who you are.

 

Bryn Otto  18:11

So right after that aha moment, like I was talking about, when I thought I was pretty good at welding, I was not good, but I had that moment where I was on track to rapidly get better and same with a lot of my classmates, and I just started posting my progress on social media because I saw others do the same, and I was like, Man, that's inspiring, right there, yeah, and it's now people that I'm friends with, after going to trade shows with them and stuff like that. So I started posting on social media. And I was working at Hy Vee as a cook at the time, and the first post I made, I had just clocked in, and I posted, and I felt my phone buzzing, I think, while I was washing dishes or something. And then I went to break and I saw it had like, 40,000 views, wow, in a couple hours. Yeah, so I got super lucky with that. Joined Tiktok at the perfect time, because early on, they were boosting accounts like crazy. Yep, and welding is such a small niche, you would never guess that there was as many people as there are on that platform. But yeah, so I got super lucky posted on there maybe six months into it, I started a group called the surgeon to steal with a bunch of other welding related young people. So I had my buddy Robert, it's actually his birthday today in Detroit.

 

Mitchell Roush  19:28

Shout out, Robert. Yeah, Robert, happy birthday.

 

Bryn Otto  19:32

Him, a lady in Lincoln, one welding instructor in Georgia, and then my other buddy in Austin, Texas. We all went to Houston, Texas and welded underwater.

 

Mitchell Roush  19:44

That's right, I remember seeing that video footage that was really cool.

 

Bryn Otto  19:48

That was in like 2021 or two or it would have been 21 because it was I missed the first day of senior year because there was a hurricane. In Houston, and I had to fly Houston to Dallas, to Grand Island. So I made it to Dallas, but it was too late, yeah, and so I stayed the night in Dallas airport on a bench or something, eating vending machine food, and then booked another flight to Kearney, because it would get me here earlier. So yeah, I missed the first day of school, and Mr. Holly, I emailed him like, super late the night before, when I got off the plane, and he was like, no worries. Like, that's the coolest thing to miss. Miss class for and I came back, and he had reached out to the news station, and the news station came and interviewed me. And I think that was, that was the coolest thing ever. That's why I'll never forget. Mr. Hall, he set up a lot of things like that for me, yeah? So that that happened, and it just kicked off a bunch of events like, now I go to trade shows this. It's like a welding convention for nerds. Yeah, is what, like nerd nerds about welding, is what I would say, That's awesome. Like, I don't know, I don't know how to explain it. It's called Fabtech, and it's, it rotates between Atlanta, Chicago and Vegas, but this year, they threw in Orlando, so yeah, I started going to that with actually a classmate, and we went to the Atlanta one, and no hotels would take anybody under 21 we were both 18, and we had to buy this crazy expensive hotel room just to even go, and it was a huge risk, but it super paid off for me. Then I, I met a bunch of people at that convention and got a sponsorship eventually, and then another one from, you know, welding companies. And it just, it kind of worked out from there. Now, every year I look forward to, like, a work vacation, is what I would call it.

 

Mitchell Roush  21:41

It's professional networking. It's building your brand. All of this is business, entrepreneurial venturing, in addition to the skill that you are mastering, all that matters. That's really cool. So you're predominantly on Tiktok, right? So how many followers you have? We're recording this on January 2, 2025, by the way.

 

Bryn Otto  22:01

So as of today, we're yet, I think 48,000 on my personal account. And then the podcast I host about welding has like 15,000 or something like that on Tiktok as well. We just post clips.

 

Mitchell Roush  22:13

That's legit. And again, talk to me about more of the the content that you post on there. Because you said there's a surprising amount of interested niche weld folks on that platform, right? So what, what are you what are you posting? And how are people interacting with you?

 

Bryn Otto  22:30

Sometimes I'll just post random welds wells that I think look good with an edit, you know, some song or something, yeah, or a good needle drop always helps. Or, like, educational content, not as much, but I'd like to get into it more. Yeah, just honestly, everything around welding, I'll use a AI filter and on a weld, and it'll look cool or something. And there's a lot of students, but there's also a lot of like, people that just like to see welds in trades or something like that. And, yeah, it's, it's a crazy niche, like, crazy small, but it's so supportive and tight knit that, yes, it's pretty wild.

 

Mitchell Roush  23:10

It sounds like it has been a catalyst for you to develop a lot of the professional connections you have. Like, this isn't just connecting with random people, it's, it's building connections and colleagues and friendships all around this profession and this skill.

 

Bryn Otto  23:26

right? I mean, I've got friends in Belarus, Germany, North Carolina, California. I mean, it's, it's crazy. Some of these people are invited to my wedding from Belarus. I mean, it's just crazy. What has, uh, what has happened.

 

Mitchell Roush  23:41

Where do you where do you want to go with this? I mean, I obviously you love welding. No, great. And you definitely have an affinity for the Grand Island community. You're still here. You're around here, and I know that you always make time for other Gish students that are wanting to learn more about it, which is really cool. But where do you want to take this? The social media influence, the sponsorships, the welding profession, like, what? What's your vision? Where do you how do you want to keep growing?

 

Bryn Otto  24:05

I've got a wild dream that I've told to a couple people, and they think I'm crazy, but so near future growing my own personal business. I run a side business, and while I work at dreamco tool full time, and they know about it. They're super supportive about that, and cool too, yeah, because obviously, you know, I'm just doing, like, repairs here and there, little like a job shop. But the crazy dream this, I actually was sleeping and I had this dream, but I really want it to come true, and I don't think we're that far from it. I want to buy a shop that, um, with maybe three four other content creators, welding content creators, and we share a corner, or I get one corner, he gets this corner. The middle is like a real fabrication shop where we do jobs and get money. But in the corners is our own little studios each for whatever each person does. Yeah, because that's something like some people will do art, some people will do, like my the podcast co host, he makes custom welding hoods, which we actually donated to the school last year. I remember that, yeah, that's a crazy dream, and that's super summarized, but everybody gets each corner for their own little welding studio, and then we can collaborate do actual jobs in the middle. And I think, man, I think it'd be so cool, almost like, if you ever watched the fantasy factory of Rob dear decks, fantasy factory on MTV back then, yep, like a fantasy factory for welders. I think it'd be so cool.

 

Mitchell Roush  25:36

So love the ROB deer deck shot out, by the way, so I'm an elder millennial, so, like, that's right in my wheelhouse, but I don't think that's crazy. I think that is that's legitimate, and that is especially in the 2020s like that is that is a thriving way to not only be an entrepreneur, but it's also a way to continue to champion both your voice, your collaborators, but also to continue to put a spotlight on this skill and this profession that is, in many ways, a backbone of American infrastructure. I think that's awesome. Love that idea.

 

Bryn Otto  26:13

I think it'd be great, it'd be fun, but it'd be expensive.

 

Mitchell Roush  26:17

Not cheap, but when it happens, I'm gonna help manifest this for you. Okay, when it happens, just let us come out and we'll do a really cool, like alumni video with you, and you can walk through the whole studio and everything, and we'll do, we'll do a "GIPS presents" Bryn auto walking through his custom content creator welding shop. That would be cool. That's the dream. That's legit. Well, that's I'm rooting for you, man. That is really cool. That is really, really cool. So thinking about Grand Island a little bit, because, again, you mentioned before you're here, you graduated from here, but you're still here. You're working at dramco. You're a Grand Island guy right now. What's your hope for just the Grand Island community as it continues to grow?

 

Bryn Otto  27:00

I did think about leaving. At one point. I actually took a wild test in Hutchinson, Kansas, because I thought I wanted to build a drag cars. But that was not but luckily, I didn't go. And honestly, I think, I think the community, you know, I feel like Grand Island community focused on industry for so long, like building, building things. I mean, there's tons of large companies here. I feel like we need more for the kids. And I heard this, I think my grandma told me this, like, when I grew up, we had a, I think it was called party hut or something like that. It was over, over where Hastings bookstore was, and actually it's where Spring City is now, now that I remember it, and it was like bounce houses, all like bounce races, stuff. My mom would drop me and my buddy off and go to work, and we would be there all the whole day, and then go home. And you know, we'd be tired from jumping on I feel like the community needs more stuff like that. I mean, skate Island closed down. That was a big part when I was a kid, stuff like that. That's what I'd like to see. But, you know, especially because I'm getting to the age, like I'm getting married this this year, yeah, 2025, and probably have kids eventually, pretty within the next No, I'm not gonna say, don't want to put that out there, eventually, you know, relatively soon in the Yeah, the grand scheme. So that's, I don't know, that's what I'd like to see, yeah.

 

Mitchell Roush  28:34

Like, I think that's a very valid perspective, right? Like, we want to continue to be an attractive place for families and young families to relocate here, and having opportunities for them to engage their kids and to do family activities is definitely a big part of that. I'm excited for the epic Discovery Center that's going to be going up behind this building here. We're in the Neil building, the GI PS district office, and I think that's going to be really cool, but it's it's really neat to hear that perspective, even from someone that's a young professional like yourself, to say, like, Hey, man, kids deserve some great stuff too, and so we want to keep building stuff like that in the community.

 

Bryn Otto  29:11

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't even know about that building that's going up, but sounds cool.

 

Mitchell Roush  29:15

That's awesome. Really cool. So, Bryn, I do want to ask you one question. I ask everybody that guests on this podcast, this question. One, because this is a podcast for school district, and two, I'm just fascinated by the answers that I get, and they're always so good. So I wanted to ask you, being a product of public education in public high school, what is one thing about public education you wish folks knew about or better understood?

 

Bryn Otto  29:41

When I was in elementary school at gates elementary me and all three of my brothers, well, my oldest went to dodge my oldest brother and then.

 

Mitchell Roush  29:49

Shout out, Dodge Dragons and Gates Gators.

 

Bryn Otto  29:53

So when I went there, I mean the friends that I had at that time. First off, we all lived right by. Gates. So that helps, yep, but we would ride our bikes, you know, the furthest away would meet the second furthest away on the hike and bike trail, and then we'd go pick up the third, then we'd go pick up the fourth, and then eventually get to gates, you know, yeah, and like those friends I had in elementary school were the same in middle school, same in high school, and then our, you know, our parents were friends at that point. It's just like growing up with the same people and then seeing what we're all doing now. Because we all grew up in public school and went to the same schools, it was like, I wouldn't rather had my childhood be any other way, you know, we'd stay after school and play in football at the at the gates gators field is OR gates elementary it was pretty big field or play on the playground, you know. And the teachers had no problem. We'd say bye to Mr. Corbel, the PE teacher on his way out. Yeah, you know, it was, it was just the best growing up my my whole young life, with the same people, with the same families around my family, you know, stuff like that. It was great.

 

Mitchell Roush  30:59

That's the experience so many people have here. And I love, I love hearing that from your perspective, but, yeah, journeying through school with your people like that's, that's what it's about.

 

Bryn Otto  31:09

I think this was crazy lucky, but my friends, siblings would would be friends, would be in the same grade and friends with my brothers, you know, because we were all two years apart. It was, it was odd how all that worked out. Yeah, it was good.

 

Mitchell Roush  31:21

Really cool. Yeah, really cool. Before we close things up, is there anything else you'd like to share?

 

Bryn Otto  31:28

Anybody thinking about getting into the skilled trades? Think about later on, when you do have kids, you get to drive by that structure, that piece of art, or whatever that you build, and tell your kids that you help build that, or, you know, just get to showcase it. And some of the stuff you build will last. It'll probably live longer than you like, I got to help out on the globe at the VFW, that nine foot stainless steel globe as a Veterans Memorial. And I drive by that, and I feel proud every single time, so there's no shame in getting your hands dirty for for your money. I mean, I think the trades is great, and I don't want anybody to ever feel discouraged about about being a tradesman or tradeswoman.

 

Mitchell Roush  32:12

Man, that is such a good word. And you were spot on. That proud factor is it's amazing. Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that. Brynn, do you want to tell our listeners? Where can they find you? On Tiktok and plug your podcast? Man, you got the mic.

 

Bryn Otto  32:29

Bryn welds, on every single platform, be our way. B, R, Y, N, W, E, L, D, S, or the iron insight podcast, the iron insight, yeah.

 

Mitchell Roush  32:40

That's legit. Well, Brynn, thank you for being here. Thank you for all that you do and for sharing your voice. We're incredibly proud of you, Bryn, you're doing amazing things, and we're very proud to see you thriving in the community and in your career. Keep doing awesome stuff. Thank you once again. Thank you to Brynn for joining us here on the GI PS cast and sharing his story and for all the ways he is impacting the industry and the community. Really cool to hear. And of course, listeners, we also want to thank you. Thank you for joining us on this podcast, for listening along and following with all of our stories. We wouldn't be here without you. And of course, if you enjoyed this episode, or you enjoy this podcast, we would greatly appreciate it if you gave us a rating or a review on your favorite podcast platform, it'll help other people discover us along the way. Also, don't forget, check out GIPS.org; that's www.GIPS.org, that's our district website, and that is our hub for information, new stories, resources, all the trusted information that you need from Grand Island Public Schools. Thanks again, listeners for joining us, and we will be back here on the GI PS cast with more great stories from our district really soon.