 My name is Brandon Nathaniel Boepersen. I am from Milwaukee, born and raised. Arts in Milwaukee, where I was born and raised, weren't necessarily expected to become anything. Some of my friends are successful, but very few. There's not many of us that have moved on beyond a high school education. I ended up going to a four-year school. Didn't quite work out for me. After I got married and had kids, I got stuck in some dead-end jobs and Rick decided that I needed a change and came to Mid-State. Everybody here was so nice from the time that I called in the first time. The first time I came in to just get information, they were willing to go the extra mile to make sure that I could get into school, help me with financial aid and everything, just trying to get me to where I needed to be. It was kind of awesome. When I came here after it didn't even take the full day, it didn't even take the first class period before I was able to just open up and just be me. I enrolled in the business management program, but last semester I found out that I'm really good at accounting, so now I'm a double major in business management and accounting. Most people say, oh, you're going to a tech school class, it's going to be easy. No, no, wrong, wrong. The instructors here are awesome. No matter what you're going through, if you're open in communication with them, they will help you. They want you to be able to be successful. You're definitely going to be challenged in a way that's exciting, in a way that applies what you're learning to what you'll actually be doing in the real world as you're working in business in whatever capacity you're in. Outside of being a Mid-State student ambassador, I own three businesses between me and my wife. One is a catering business, which is the main reason I came back to school because I knew how to cook, but I didn't know the business side of it. I help out with our church youth group. I'm a high school basketball coach and a junior high football coach. On top of that, I have a daughter and I have a 13-year-old brother that lives with me. After our father died, I adopted him. I want to win state championships in basketball and football as a coach. The only championship I've ever won was in semi-pro football, and that was one of the most awesome experiences ever. And I wanted to just see some kids experience that same thing. Winning is fun. It's losing. You learn lessons, yeah, but winning is way more fun than I like to win. Personally, I've learned that you got to give everybody a chance. People are going to be people. Everybody makes mistakes, and you just got to be able to learn from your mistakes and move on. Academically, well, this is the first time since high school that I've had a 4.0, but here at the Technical College, I got the help. I got a support system. And being a 4.0 student is like awesome. It's one of the greatest feelings in the world, because I feel like a champion, I feel like a winner, you know? How about your shirt? Oh, my shirt is what I got from my kids for Father's Day. It's really awesome. My kids are 3 and 5, and they know about Sandlot. If you don't know about Sandlot, you missed out on childhood, especially if you're an 80s baby. Or even a 90s baby, I'm just saying. Sandlot was one of the greatest movies ever made, even though it wasn't real big in the theaters, whatever. I got it on VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray, because that movie is just that awesome.