Major: Mechanical Engineering
Class: 2013
Photo shoots, magazine publications and winning entrepreneurship competitions are not the norm for most college freshmen. Then there’s mechanical engineering major Matthew Brazeau. Brazeau started Brazeau Engines, an electric skateboard company, when he was just a senior in high school.
A native of Lake Zurich, Ill., Brazeau’s interest in engineering began at the age of 11 when built his first electronic skateboard. His thirst for working with electronics ranged from taking apart radio-controlled cars and airplanes to fixing iPods. His focus eventually turned to developing safe, electronic skateboards.
Brazeau never thought his hobby of building electronic skateboards would turn into an actual career. One day, a friend told him he should consider becoming an entrepreneur. Brazeau said that he didn’t truly understand what an entrepreneur was at first, but he knew it had something to do with starting a business. Brazeau didn’t put much thought into being an entrepreneur until his senior year in high school when he saw a sign up for the Young Entrepreneurs’ Academy (YEA). “I read the sign’s main points and decided to go to the first meeting. To sum it up, I created a business plan, received more investments, was taken to New York (where the YEA program was founded), and took first place in the national competition.” Since winning the YEA competition, he’s been photographed and interviewed for numerous magazine articles regarding his success with Brazeau Engines.
Now a freshman in the mechanical engineering program, Brazeau chose MSOE because it, “offers a challenging curriculum that has caused me to develop extraordinary time management skills and an unparalleled ethic for overcoming the challenges at hand.” Brazeau states another benefit of attending MSOE is that he “has never been around such a nice group of people before.”
Brazeau hasn’t decided what career path he will follow after graduating from MSOE in a few years. Instead of having set goals, he wants to continuously look for opportunities to capitalize on his own ideas. Truly, Brazeau is an entrepreneur at heart and in practice.