March 31, 2025
Ferris State’s Abby Hildebrant aims to be a role model for women in Heavy Equipment Technology while planning for promising career
When Ferris State University student Abby Hildebrant gets talking about her dad's "mud truck," basically a truck built mainly for off-road adventures, she slips into a different gear.
"It's like most mud trucks," she said, her voice getting animated and her words coming faster and faster. "It's got very big and very meaty tires. It's lifted and though a lot of them have small blocks, my dad's has a 460 big block Ford, but it's a stroker motor, so it has an aftermarket crankshaft and rods that make it a 514."
She added, almost as an afterthought, "I grew up working on that one a lot."
And while Hildebrant's dad is a backyard mechanic, the rest of her family tree is filled with people who work wrenches for a living: a grandfather, various uncles and even a cousin.
So it's perhaps no surprise that these days Hildebrant is a student in the Ferris State Heavy Equipment Technology program, nearing the finish line of her sophomore year and completion of an associate's degree.
Except it is a little bit of a surprise. While her family background is filled with role models, she admits that as a high school student being a female who aspired to a career in the trades could be tough sledding.
"A lot of discrimination," she recalled ruefully.
But, she said, even as her dad's love for working on his truck inspired her, so too did his words of advice get her through some tough times.
"My dad has been one of my biggest supporters through this journey," she said. "He was always telling me that guys won’t always be happy to have a woman in their line of work, but he also would tell me not to care what they think, to prove them wrong and to show them why I belong in this field. That has been what’s kept me going."
His advice was also why she was so excited about a recent event at Ferris State called Jill of All Trades, an opportunity for high school girls to explore rewarding careers and participate in hands-on workshops to learn about programs in the university’s College of Engineering Technology, an international effort offered for the first time in Michigan.
"I've become really passionate about supporting other women in the trades," she said with a smile. "When I heard about this event, I immediately volunteered to be a group leader. I know what it's like to be a high school female and feel down on yourself, so an event that can encourage high school students is something I wanted to be part of right away."
Austin Williams, associate professor and program coordinator in the Heavy Equipment Technology and Automotive Management program, was not surprised that Hildebrant was so quick to volunteer.
"She is self-motivated, very dedicated and determined to be successful," he said. "Females in our program are usually a small number. We have six currently of the 76 total in the program. But the number has been growing, and they have all gone on to be very successful."
Hildebrant grew up in Morrice, near Lansing and went to Morrice Area High School. She was drawn to Ferris State by the Heavy Equipment program and the summer between graduating high school and going to Ferris she did a program called the Summer Technician Entrance Program through AIS Construction Equipment, a family-owned private company with six locations in Michigan.
The STEP program is designed to be a transition from high school to a career at AIS or to matriculation at a two- or four-year college and includes the opportunity to receive college tuition reimbursement. For Hildebrant it was affirmation that her career path choice was a good one. It also locked up a fulltime summer and parttime school year job for her at AIS. And the close connections between Ferris State and AIS were, she said, also a win-win.
Williams agrees.
"AIS is a huge supporter of our program and currently has 18 of our students working for them," he said.
As Hildebrant nears the end of her second year in Big Rapids, she has her sights set on the next two years and completion of her bachelor's degree in Heavy Equipment Service Engineering Technology, taking on advanced classes in Electrical and Hydraulics, Fleet and Dealer Management, Failure Analysis, Electrical Power Generation and also a Business class or two.
"Our students have no problem finding jobs," Williams said. "In fact, most have three or four to choose from upon graduation in everything from technician to management."
Count Hildebrant among those Ferris State grads who will have a job waiting for them.
She plans to work for AIS as part of a scholarship program in which they pay for her Ferris State tuition and books in return for a certain number of years of employment for their company. She earned the scholarship by going through the Summer Technician Entrance Program after high school, and she is excited, she said, to know that her first job after graduation is already lined up.
Even as she looks ahead to a 2027 graduation and the launch of her career, she said she is also looking back fondly on the past two years and the ways in which Ferris State has helped her grow.
"I knew I could get a degree here that nobody could take from me while still doing what I loved," she said. "And the classes I have taken, and the professors who have walked alongside me have given me a confidence that nobody can take from me."