Blinn engineering major takes aim at the sky

Breyonni Bonds plans to transfer into an aerospace engineering program and continue working toward her pilot’s license

April 10, 2023

For Blinn College District student Breyonni Bonds, 18, having her head in the clouds is a good thing. When she’s not building robots as she pursues her Associate of Science (AS) in Engineering, the College Station native is studying for her pilot’s license.

“I decided on aerospace engineering because I thought it would be fun,” she said. “I’m also training to be a pilot. The two fields are kind of grouped together for me. My ultimate goal would be to work at NASA or that type of job.”

Although Bonds seems set on a career linked to the sky, she didn’t always think this was her destiny.

“I had a fear of heights when I was younger, but as I grew up, I forced myself to grow out of it,” Bonds said. “I thought it would be kind of ironic to study aerospace.”

Bonds also is an avid crafter, another passion that connected her to engineering.

“I do bead working and costume making, and I noticed that when I’m crafting it’s very technical and I connected that to engineering,” Bonds said. “I thought if I can get so intricate with art, maybe I can translate this focus to metal and other materials.”

Excited to combine her interests, Bonds enrolled at Blinn and decided to pursue engineering after a conversation with Engineering Program Director Lauren Buth.

“Breyonni has a unique focus and drive and I thought our program was a perfect fit to allow her to tailor our coursework to suit her individual interests,” Buth said. “Engineering is the application of math and science to solve real-world problems. With all of our different partnerships and pathways, students can find a program that adapts to their goals and interests to embark on rewarding careers.”

Blinn’s Engineering Program offers four associate degree pathways for students to transfer into engineering bachelor's degree programs across the state. In addition to the AS degree, which transfers into programs that include the University of Houston and Texas Tech University, Blinn offers the Texas A&M Engineering Academy at Blinn-Brenham and Texas A&M Engineering at Blinn. Both options allow students to pursue an engineering degree while co-enrolled at Texas A&M and Blinn. Students take Blinn courses on the Brenham or Texas A&M-RELLIS campuses and those who complete the program with a minimum 3.75 GPA receive automatic admission to the Texas A&M engineering major they choose.

As the community college partner in the RELLIS Academic Alliance, Blinn offers pathways toward a BS in Civil Engineering and BS in Mechanical Engineering from Tarleton State University and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University-Texarkana. All three bachelor’s degrees can be completed at Texas A&M-RELLIS in Bryan, a dynamic campus that brings the state’s leading regional universities together at a single location in the heart of Aggieland.

Blinn and the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) have partnered to offer students a co-enrollment path to earn a bachelor’s degree from UTSA’s College of Engineering. In UTSA’s Transfer Academy for Tomorrow’s Engineers (TATE) program, students take engineering courses taught by UTSA and Blinn faculty. After completing the program, students can transfer to UTSA to earn their Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in mechanical engineering.

For Bonds, the hands-on and collaborative elements of engineering were an added draw.

“With the engineering program, whenever you build a project, you work in a team. You help your team and your team helps you. It’s a very supportive environment,” Bonds said. “I’ve definitely liked building the robots and getting to work with my hands.”

With her sights set on transferring to Texas A&M to pursue aerospace engineering, Bonds credits the faculty at Blinn with providing a supportive foundation.

“The professors are amazing,” she said. “They know what they’re doing and have a lot of experience. If you have any problems, they guide you through what to do and how to solve it.”

Whether Bonds’s career takes her inside a cockpit or an aeronautics lab, she sees the value in what she’s studying and encourages other students to look into Blinn’s program.

“Engineering is so important because it’s everything,” she said. “Everything you touch, everything you use is engineering. It was designed and created by somebody. Engineering is everywhere and it’s great.”

For more information about Blinn’s Engineering Program, visit www.blinn.edu/engineering.