Channing and Trey Bruce
Trey: I grew up in Birmingham and was a huge Auburn fan. It was a dream of mine to come to Auburn before I really knew what college was. My older sister Haley was the first in our immediate family to go to Auburn, and she was in the marching band. I decided I wanted to follow in her steps! It was an added bonus that I wanted to study engineering and Auburn is the best place for that in the state.
Channing: It was an easy choice for me in the end as an in-state student who grew up as an Auburn fan wanting to pursue engineering. My dad is an alumnus, and my sister was a current student at the time, so that made it all the better choice for me.
We actually met in high school! We were both in marching band, had a few classes together, and had mutual friends. We went to prom together junior year and started dating senior year. I (Trey) was very fortunate that Channing decided to go to Auburn as well because she is a go-getter who applied and got into a lot of great schools! I only applied to Auburn.
Trey: Right after graduation, I started a great job working as an Industrial Engineer in the healthcare sector where my manager and both coworkers all went to Auburn as well! Our shared connections helped to ease my transition into working full time, and I learned a lot from their experiences. My work has primarily been implementing process and quality improvement projects across health systems. Even though I am not a healthcare provider, starting my career in January 2020 created a lot of work challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. My Auburn education helped me to respond with flexibility, and I have continued to enjoy working in healthcare for the past six years.
Channing: Well ultimately my engineering degree helped me get into UAB Heersink School of Medicine, but I never worked in industry. I graduated medical school in 2024, and I am currently an OB/GYN Resident in North Carolina. I meet so many former engineers in medicine, and it is a really great connection to have with people and share a nice joke about how the body is all one feedback system that has pipes.
Trey: As a former marching band member, there are so many parts of game day that I love. My favorite is probably the band spirit march that culminates with a pep rally at the corner of Heisman and Donahue. Outside of game day, I honestly love that we all say War Eagle to each other! Now that we no longer live in the state of Alabama, it is always nice to see someone in Auburn gear that I can connect to and give a friendly War Eagle.
Channing: Definitely the eagle flight and the marching band pregame show. I love when people find out I was in the marching band and I get to show them the videos of pregame and how excited the whole crowd gets for the band.
Trey: Invest your time finding a community of people that you both enjoy hanging out with together. We had some really great built in friends through marching band. Several of these friends were in our wedding and continue to be great friends of ours to this day!
Channing: Make good memories with your partner, but also find good friends. No one thrives in isolation, so branch out and find fun things to do even with people outside of your circle. My favorite things to do with or without my partner were weekend walks through campus, go to Friday night gymnastics meets, or go to the Bean for a hefty cinnamon roll. And of course, always come back and visit Auburn together!