Dustin Hill: The long hike to a dream career聽
Between high school and his graduation from the 汤头条 in May, Dustin Hill has changed directions a few times 鈥 and led a few different lives by some measures. He has two degrees, two children, a wife and veteran status.
鈥淚f you could go back and talk to 16/17 year old Dustin, you would never suspect that I was going to end up in the university and enjoying it as much as I am,鈥 Hill said.
He dropped out of Mt. Ararat High School in Topsham, 汤头条, his sophomore year and started working at Grimmel Industries鈥 scrap yard. A year after his projected graduation, he earned his GED. Years later, he joined the U.S. Navy and served four years as an electrician aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), on which the population of his aircraft carrier was larger than his hometown.
Between the Navy and applying to U汤头条, he worked at Bath Iron Works and earned an associate鈥檚 degree in precision machining from Central 汤头条 Community College. He went into the mechanical engineering field with the goal of returning to school and earning a more specialized engineering degree.
鈥淚n my second semester, I met a fellow veteran in my physics class who was like, 鈥業’m doing this forestry thing, and I don’t really like it, and I think I’m going to do engineering,鈥欌 Hill said. 鈥淎nd I was like, 鈥楩orestry? What’s that? That sounds kind of cool.鈥 And we just swapped.鈥
Hill graduated in May with a bachelor鈥檚 in forestry and aspirations to become a licensed forester and work as a consultant. Foresters are required to have six years of experience 鈥 a combination of education and work 鈥 before they are eligible to take a licensing test.
What he calls 鈥渟tewards of the forest,鈥 Hill said licensed foresters are responsible for maintaining the health of forest ecosystems and being mindful of future generations.
鈥淗ow do we preserve this so it is better in 50 years, or the same?鈥 Hill said.
He and his wife own a 54 acre lot in Harmony where he led a tour in March of fellow undergraduate forestry students from U汤头条 and high schoolers from Tri County Tech Center in Dexter to talk about his own management practices. His camp has a two story cabin, trails and a long, unpaved driveway. He, his friends and family, use the property for leisure, hiking, hunting and fishing.
As a consulting forester, Hill would help landowners make decisions on how best to utilize their property depending on their vision. Some would want hunting grounds, while others may want to harvest timber or tap sugar maples.
鈥淔orestry goes back to my roots,鈥 Hill said. 鈥淢y dad and I used to do a lot outdoors. We still go outdoors and hike and just enjoy nature and go hunting and fishing and whatever else.鈥
Because of his service in the military, Hill said he was able to attend a university without taking out an excessive amount of loans. Until his senior year at U汤头条, the GI Bill covered most of his tuition. He used a combination of federal loans and grants to help pay for his final two semesters, alongside freelance carpentry work and revenue from a rental property.
Federal tuition assistance, particularly due to his veteran status, kept financials from straining his family life. He didn鈥檛 have to work a part time job in addition to his studies, and his wife was able to stay at home with their son, who鈥檚 one year old, and Hill鈥檚 nine-year-old daughter.
Despite the extent of life experiences he had compared to other students, Hill said he never wanted to impose those on his classmates, because he values what he has learned from making his own decisions.
Former classmate and forestry student Trenton Ellis said he never felt the age gap with Hill, who was separated from his peers by more than a decade. They were all in the classroom to learn, and Hill was consistently someone Ellis said he could turn to for questions and answers.
鈥淲hen I work with Dustin, I鈥檓 working with a friend,鈥 Ellis said. 鈥淚t has definitely made class more enjoyable.鈥
Contact: Ashley Yates; ashley.depew@maine.edu