Where are they now? Pine-Richland’s Reese Martin

Reese Martin, a rising junior at Robert Morris University, was recently awarded a scholarship for his tuition.

Through the scholarship program, he also will have the opportunity to work upon graduation in the public sector in the Cyber Security field.

Reese owes a lot of his success, he said, to the opportunities he took advantage of while attending A.W. Beattie's Computer Systems Technology, Network Engineering and Cyber Security program for three years.

"I loved getting a head start on what college would be like," Reese said. "Being able to try something at Beattie that I thought I might want to do in my professional career is something I will never regret. Any time I explain to someone at RMU that I went to a technical school it piques their interest."

Telling his back story to others has become a reoccurring theme.

The information in lectures and textbooks, Reese said, is often similar to what he experienced at the Career Center.

"I had a professor last semester ask me how I had picked up on networking knowledge before taking the course, and he knew exactly what I was talking about when I mentioned Beattie," Reese said. "He knew because of other Beattie students who attended RMU for cyber security before me."

Reese, a 2021 Pine-Richland graduate, is now a Cyber Security major and will minor in Data Analytics. He may also pursue a Master's degree in Cyber Forensics or Business Administration.

His road to success in post-secondary education was paved by taking advantage of opportunities he had at the Career Center where he participated in Beattie Ambassadors and SkillsUSA. Reese also was inducted into the National Technical Honor Society and interned with A.W. Beattie's IT Department.

"Doing all of those different extracurriculars at Beattie was important," Reese said. "It wasn't just an achievement or skill development. It was learning and understanding how to be prepared to be more personable and professional, which is a big plus in college and in the IT field. Having those soft skills in addition to three years of building IT knowledge at Beattie has been beneficial to me. If you're a Beattie student now and you want to get ahead, then get involved as much as you can. Ask as many questions as you can. Learn how to network. You can do all of those things at Beattie to help you be successful in the future."