Braydon Nye-Erickson, is a Cougar to keep an eye on. A sophomore, he is currently president of the CTSO/Auto Club, is in National Honors Society, and is joining the Sahuaro Jazz Band, where he will play the piano. Being president of the Auto Club means scheduling meetings, making plans for the club’s field trips, and organizing all of the fundraising. Braydon holds a 4.0 GPA and is taking Honors English and Honors Chemistry, enjoying both classes deeply, saying, “…both great classes with amazing teachers that we need more of.” He is also deeply involved in extracurricular activities and has many creative and intellectual hobbies outside of school. He puts education at the top of his priority list, valuing every aspect.
Outside of school, Braydon plays the piano and guitar, reads books, collects records, and keeps his busy schedule organized with a lot of lists. He is one of the best students in his class and possibly in the whole school. Born and raised in Tucson, though Braydon now excels at school and all things academic, it wasn’t always this easy. When Braydon was a kid, he was really bad at school. Often getting bad grades and getting calls home to parents, he shared that he was never a rule breaker or problem child, but he just didn’t do work or pay attention in class.
Even though he didn’t have the best grades, Braydon enjoyed reading, and by the age of 10, he had read every book in his family’s home library front to back. Braydon delved into poetry as a kid, and some of his favorites were Shel Silverstein and Roald Dahl. Braydon still loves to read and mainly enjoys biblical epic poems, classics, science fiction, and biographies.
Now, Braydon’s academics are critical to him, and he tries to be the best he can be in every field. Though he is not a big fan of universities and “…mostly sees them as a business to make money, not so much educating,” Braydon is a fan of trade schools, internships, and community college, planning on taking automotive courses at Pima in the future.
Braydon isn’t just great in his classes, but also is very involved in extracurriculars.
His favorite class is Automotive with Mr. Brooks, who is also his favorite teacher. Recently, the auto classes took the Auto ASE (Automotive Service Excellence) Exam, a test that is required to receive an automotive standard certification. At Sahuaro, the auto class offers 15 tests, and each is based on different areas of expertise.
This year, Braydon took five of the tests and currently holds a certification for Maintenance & Light Repair, Engine Repair, Brakes, Electrical Components, and Automatic Transmission Repair. “These certs mean that I have adequate knowledge to safely diagnose and repair problems in these specific areas,” Braydon explained. He currently holds 5 of the ASE certifications, including the OSHA General Health and Safety certification. He plans to continue taking ASE every year, taking auto internships during the summer, and focusing on that as a career.
Currently, Braydon is preparing to debut a new club at Sahuaro for young conservatives. We can’t wait to see where the road takes Braydon, and we will be there every step of the way to support him.
