丹尼尔·威尔逊

2023年5月5日

当谈到高等教育时，使用蛮力作为一种学习方法可能不是第一个想到的想法。

然而，这种方法最适合38岁的布伦南·贝尔（Brennan Beell）。

“I didn't want to play that role as a student, like, ‘Oh, yeah, I think I could do this problem, I'll just move forward with it and maybe circle back to it later,’ ” Beell said. “I wanted to absolutely understand it from head to toe before I moved on.”

在COVID-19大流行期间从太浩湖社区学院转到萨克州立大学后，贝尔继续采用他全力以赴的学习方法。 他将其描述为应对挑战，阅读书籍，或在作业上花费尽可能多的时间，直到他觉得自己完全理解了一个概念。

它得到了回报。

Beell is set to graduate magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and is the recipient of the Dean’s Award from the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS). Deans’ Awards are given annually at Commencement to seven outstanding graduating students, one for each of 囊状态’s academic colleges.

“I'm more than grateful, to be honest,” Beell said. “To just be where I am is certainly a dream come true. I never thought this would happen.”

比尔克服了许多困难才取得成功。 在他25岁左右的时候，他15岁的妹妹在戒毒后需要一个看护人。 他说，由于她的生父或生母都有滥用药物的历史，所以她不能和他们在一起，所以比尔介入了。

“Brennan is an amazing story of persistence to finish his degree, while working to support others around him.” 工程与计算机科学学院院长Kevan Shafizadeh说

His sister’s probation terms dictated that she could not be around people she had associated with before her rehab, so Beell grounded her for several months. 最终，她找到了一份工作，开始走上一条更好的道路。

“Things just kind of fell in place,” he said. “I don't know if just the sheer fact of a little stability and money in her pocket made her realize that there was some warmth and security in that, but she turned her life around.”

他的妹妹最终从高中毕业，进入加州大学戴维斯分校，并获得了动物生物学学位。

“Through that process … was really when I started to take interest in my own academic drive,” said Beell, who had dropped out of high school after 10^th grade.

“I knew it was (going to) be a little difficult because I didn't really have … a lot of those core fundamental concepts of writing and history and mathematics. … So, I already knew I was at a disadvantage.”

During community college, Beell moved to Pollock Pines, about an hour’s commute from Lake Tahoe Community College. 他和他的妻子正在抚养他们年幼的第一个儿子，比尔在南太浩湖的水质部门全职工作，清除水中的碎片。 他从18岁开始担任这个职位，并在社区大学毕业时被提升为主管。

Beell’s second son was born about this time, and Beell took on yet another responsibility in coaching his elder son’s youth soccer team. In addition, Beell frequently volunteered in his kids’ classrooms, something he did because he enjoyed it and it helped him bond with his children.

一开始，比尔不得不适应大部分在线上Sac州立大学的课程，在疫情期间，他经常和儿子们共用一张小桌子，因为他们每个人都参加了虚拟课程。

Through it all, Beell’s full-speed-ahead approach to education carried him to educational success, leading to academic honors and opportunities to help his classmates.

“Brennan is an amazing story of persistence to finish his degree, while working to support others around him,” said ECS Dean Kevan Shafizadeh. “He has had many setbacks in his life, and his determination to help his family, then himself, then others is inspirational.”

毕业后，贝尔说，在他最终决定进入萨克州立大学之前，他希望将自己的工程技能博彩平台到他想要学习的领域。

“I would love to definitely find myself in the biomedical field,” he said. “Whether it be furthering the quality control of prosthetics for people who lost an arm or leg, or some sort of person who has a speech impediment, or just needs assistance with activities of daily living.”