{"id":1863,"date":"2026-05-18T08:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T08:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/?p=1863"},"modified":"2026-05-15T15:34:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T15:34:32","slug":"mechanical-engineering-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/2026\/05\/18\/mechanical-engineering-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Thankful for a second chance"},"content":{"rendered":"
Brandon Adams is quick to tell you that he doesn\u2019t think he\u2019s done anything worthy of special recognition. He\u2019s quick to share credit for his accomplishments with those who helped him get there and to advise other students to follow an easier blueprint for life than he did, if at all possible.<\/p>\n

\"Brandon<\/p>\n

As he learned over the past six years, getting a degree in mechanical engineering when you\u2019re in your 30s with a wife, four children and a full-time job in research and development at a local manufacturer \u2014 well, that\u2019s not the easiest route to take.<\/p>\n

However, he\u2019s glad he took it, and he\u2019s glad he chose Marshall University to take him on that journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI assumed being a returning student and being older than everybody else was going to be awkward \u2014 and it was in the beginning, getting acclimated to everything again \u2014 but everybody here has been so inviting and helpful,\u201d said Brandon, who hails from Wayne, West Virginia and graduates from Marshall during same month that his eldest daughter is graduating from high school. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have wanted to have gone anywhere else. They want you to succeed here. They give you every opportunity to succeed here. It\u2019s hard. They don\u2019t make it easy for you, but if you ask for help, it\u2019s always given. They don\u2019t expect you to do everything on your own.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t They give you every opportunity to succeed here. It\u2019s hard. They don\u2019t make it easy for you, but if you ask for help, it\u2019s always given.<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t- Brandon Adams<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

The journey to where Brandon is now \u2014 he\u2019ll tell you it started in 2006, the year that he said he should have graduated from high school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t really mature, so I quit high school and started installing carpet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He soon decided that wasn\u2019t the path he wanted to take. He got his GED and went on to a job at Richwood Industries, a Huntington-based manufacturer, starting as a laborer at the company\u2019s Eighth Avenue rubber facility, and he\u2019s been with Richwood ever since.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a really good company to work for. It\u2019s local and they treat you well,\u201d Brandon said. He also got to know the head of Richwood\u2019s research and development department, Scott Smith, who offered him a chance to join the department if he went back to school and got his degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not very often you get a second chance, so it was nice,\u201d Brandon said.<\/p>\n

Turns out, mechanical engineering has always been something he\u2019s been drawn to. He just didn\u2019t realize it.<\/p>\n

\"Marshall<\/p>\n

\u201cI had never been exposed to engineering,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d always enjoyed working on mechanical things, figuring out what makes something work and fixing it. Once I was really exposed to it, especially the research and development part of it, it interested me. You\u2019re just breaking things and testing things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going to college about 15 years after high school \u2014 it was a shock. \u201cI had to relearn how to learn,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody experiences some doubt. If the goal is big enough, you\u2019re going to experience doubt along the journey,\u201d he added. \u201cI had no doubt about what I wanted to do \u2014 it was a doubt about capability. I endured and pushed through, and it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

His biggest challenge: math classes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a math person at all,\u201d Brandon admitted. \u201cWith math, I just beat my head and then one day, it just clicked. \u2026 I struggled with Calculus, and I struggled with Calculus II, and then I got took Calc III and Differential Equations, it was like the lightbulb went on. Everything just made sense.<\/p>\n

\"Brandon<\/p>\n

\u201cThe professors will tell you this: It\u2019s about your brain learning how to look at problems in different ways. They test that limit here. They give you some advanced problems, and you just learn not to pigeonhole yourself into looking at a problem from just one particular angle. It\u2019s just a toolbox. That\u2019s all it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brandon\u2019s dedication to his education has been impressive to faculty in the Weisberg Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrandon\u2019s journey has been anything but ordinary,\u201d said Dr. Asad Salem, Marshall\u2019s J.H. Fletcher Professor of Mechanical Engineering. \u201cWhile pursuing a rigorous engineering degree, he has been working full-time in a local industry, all while supporting his family, his wife, and his children. Balancing these responsibilities alongside the demands of an engineering program requires extraordinary discipline, sacrifice, and perseverance.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs his academic advisor, I have had the privilege of working closely with Brandon and witnessing firsthand the compelling challenges and hardships he has overcome throughout this journey. His perseverance, character, and quiet determination truly set him apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t I don\u2019t look at what I\u2019ve done as any big success. I look at it as being given a second chance.<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t- Brandon Adams<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

Brandon said much of the credit goes to his family, especially his wife, Sarah, for taking on so many responsibilities at home so he could pursue his degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s carried most of the load,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also extremely proud of his children, Madilynn, 18; McKenzie, 17; Paislea, 12; and Michael, 9. Madilynn is graduating from high school as he graduates from Marshall, and he\u2019s excited that she\u2019s transitioning right into college with plans to study law.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t look at what I\u2019ve done as any big success. I look at it as being given a second chance,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t feel like I\u2019ve done anything special \u2013 I want the kids to go to college after they graduate high school, you know? I don\u2019t want them to wait until they\u2019re almost 40 because it\u2019s tremendously hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hard, like getting up at 3:30 in the morning to get some schoolwork done before his day job got going. Hard, like getting everything done for his job while also taking classes and meeting the challenges required for earning that degree in mechanical engineering.<\/p>\n

Hard, but worth it. While college has been difficult, he\u2019s enjoyed the work, which correlates with what he does at Richwood.<\/p>\n

\n\t I\u2019m ready to focus on my career and my family. It\u2019s been a blessing, having an employer that works with me and has enabled me to go back to school.<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t- Brandon Adams<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

\u201cThe company I work for, what we specialize in is bulk material handling, like conveyor belts \u2014 anything that is transported via conveyor belt,\u201d Brandon said. \u201cOne of things we do in research and development is basically add custom chemical packages to help accomplish a certain abrasion resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of his capstone project at Marshall, Brandon helped create a hydraulic press to vulcanize rubber by putting it under high pressure and heating it to a constant temperature of around 300 to 310 degrees.<\/p>\n

He plans to stay at Richwood in research and development.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m ready to focus on my career and my family. It\u2019s been a blessing, having an employer that works with me and has enabled me to go back to school,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His best advice is to, \u201cJump in. As Nike says, just do it. You can contemplate until the end of time,\u201d Brandon said. \u201cI didn\u2019t want fear of failure to be a reason for not doing it. I told myself to think of it as: I wanted to be challenged, and there has been plenty of challenges, so that was achieved. I wanted to know where my failure point was. I didn\u2019t want to look back and say I wish I would have. I wanted to know.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brandon Adams is quick to tell you that he doesn\u2019t think he\u2019s done anything worthy of special recognition. He\u2019s quick to share credit for his accomplishments with those who helped him get there and to advise other students to follow an easier blueprint for life than he did, if at all possible. As he learned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-moments"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/198"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1863"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1878,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863\/revisions\/1878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}