When Ethan Trombly signed a track scholarship with Presbyterian College Tuesday morning, he added another chapter to what has been an outstanding year for Bryan County High School athletics.

Trombly, who has qualified in four events for this week’s Class A-DI state track meet, became the first ever Redskins thinclad to sign a track scholarship. And he did it with a Division I school as the Blue Hose competed in the Big South Conference.

While signing with Presbyterian and what Trombly has overcome to reach that point is news in itself it is an academic achievement which highlights one of the many positives outside of athletics taking place at the North Bryan school.

Trombly was basically set to attend Methodist University where he was going to play football and run track. When he got news he had been awarded a Presbyterian College Service Entrepreneurship Scholarship worth $140,000 everything changed.

While the athletic scholarship is fairly easy to understand—perform well on your field of play and you will be rewarded—the academic side was a little more involved.

The Service Entrepreneurship Scholarship is designed to give high school seniors the opportunity to win a scholarship to PC by creating a plan that solves a problem in their community. It is, according to the school’s website, for a student who is creative, motivated, intellectually curious and service-oriented.

Like other students Trombly was frustrated by delays in completing FAFSA financial aid forms. He was scanning the internet looking for opportunities when he came upon the Presbyterian website and learned about the PC scholarship.

Thanks to a lifetime of learning from his mother on how to repair things and some friends who did not know how to jump start a car, Trombly immediately had his idea on how to make things better for his community.

“I was out somewhere with friends and someone needed a jump start off jumper cables,” Trombly said. “They had no idea how to use them and I was like ‘how do you not know how to use them.’

“Man, I’m like, this is a problem.”

Which brought up the question of how Trombly acquired his Mr. Fix-It knowledge and skills.

“Being raised by a single mom you have to figure out stuff on your own so whenever there was a problem we both fixed it,” Trombly said. “From age four or five she let me be there with her the whole time, letting me help and teaching me. I learned from her how to use a drill, impact drivers, saws and other tools.

“A lot of people don’t have that privilege of a single Mom who is willing to show her son everything and how to do everything. So, I would like to provide other kids with the knowledge on how to do things.”

Trombly’s mother, Rachel, is a teacher at Bryan County Elementary School. Mother’s Day, obviously, came early for her.

Trombly had to write an essay, which he said took about an hour, and submit it. It was good enough for Presbyterian to have him come to the Clinton, S.C., campus for an interview.

“My concept was that I would have a trailer full of tools and take it to parks and high schools and do seminars on how to use a drill, change a tire…just basic stuff,” Trombly said. “The presentation to a committee took about four hours. They got excited and gave me some additional ideas.”

They also awarded him the scholarship. He plans on studying automotive engineering at Presbyterian which is a degree the school offers in conjunction with Clemson.

Trombly was quick to point out he had a lot of help from football coach Cherard Freeman, BCHS faculty member and girls track coach Jessica McBride and his Mother in putting together his presentation.

“I talked to Coach Freeman and he told me I would have to have data to support my position,” Trombly said. “So, I surveyed the kids at school and had the data I needed.”

“I told him he should do a survey on how many kids in this school can do all the stuff he can do,” Freeman said. “It turned out several kids couldn’t do the things he can do and he wrote his paper on that and did his presentation which obviously went well.

“Ethan is a great kid, good with his hands, likes working on cars and building stuff,” Freeman said. “It turned out to be a great project for him. I was excited that he came and thanked me for helping him, that he appreciated it. That meant a lot to me.”