Even during a 17-credit spring semester as a 2L student at St. Thomas School of Law, Trevor Brink knew when he got the call on April 7 he was ready: Two days later he was reporting for duty as the executive officer of his National Guard company and in charge of managing the Minnesota Department of Health’s personal protective equipment (PPE) distribution warehouse.
Brink is leaning on his eight years of National Guard experience to help coordinate the huge volume of PPE distribution to health care facilities across the state. That meant 50-plus-hour weeks over the final five weeks of his 17-credit spring semester, but Brink said there was no hesitation around the idea of stepping up to help.
“I felt almost like I was meant to fulfill this position,” Brink said. “This is my way of helping serve in this aspect during this time.”
That same sense of service drew Brink to the School of Law in 2018, where the mission and emphasis on helping others has defined a feeling he’s “on the path I’m meant to be on.” Brink started with the National Guard as a junior at Elk River High School, and his interests gelled with a law enforcement and military sciences degree from St. Cloud State University.
Brink said he hopes to continue on to be in active duty Judge Advocate General's Corps for the Army, but for now has his hands more than full supporting Minnesota’s fight against COVID-19. With no definitive timetable of how long his service will be needed in his current role, there’s a welcome break from studying for the moment before he’s looking ahead to completing his degree next year.
“This is a school that cares about helping the community, which I am all about,” he said. “I could not be happier with my decision to be here.”
