Student Profile
Emily McGary, nutrition mission
Emily McGary became interested in nutrition after falling into some bad eating habits following high school. Now she wants to make a career out of teaching others about the benefits of a healthy diet.
Emily attended a four-year university after graduating from Houlton High School in northern Maine in 2009. But she left college after less than a year and moved to Portland to start a new life.
Over time, she became passionate about health and nutrition. With a new-found focus on what career path she wanted to take, she enrolled in the Nutrition & Dietetics program and is working toward a degree while juggling classes with family and work responsibilities.
Ultimately she hopes to work at a wellness facility of some type teaching people about the tools they can use through good nutrition and health habits to prevent illness and disease.
“SMCC offers a great education at an affordable price, and I like the small classes. The Nutrition program is keeping up with the evolving focus on wellness and health in the nutrition field.”
Alumni Profile
Scott Gove, built for speed
SMCC gave Scott Gove the skills to operate his own auto repair shop. It was also where he developed the itch to drag race, rocketing down drag strips in souped-up cars in front of cheering crowds.
Gove grew up in eastern Maine and came to SMCC to study Automotive Technology after high school. While attending SMCC, he saw his first drag race at a track in New Hampshire with a friend from school.
After earning his degree, Gove moved back to eastern Maine where he worked for a car repair shop before opening his own business in the small town of Dennysville. At the same time, he raced cars at drag strips along the East Coast and as far west as Indianapolis ― making a name for himself in the drag racing world.
These days, he races two of his cars: a 1969 Camaro SS 396 and a 1993 Dodge Daytona V8 with nearly 1,000 horsepower. At his fastest, he can cover a quarter-mile drag strip in 7.8 seconds at 175 mph.
For a few years, Gove focused his business on designing and building racecars for customers wanting a “Scott Gove-built” vehicle. These days, his business (Scott Gove Engineering/Advanced Automotive Services) is primarily a general auto and light truck repair shop with occasional custom orders for racecar conversions.
Twenty-eight years after entering his first drag race at a small racetrack outside of Bangor, he still has the racing bug. Last winter, he spent a month in Florida racing his cars.
“SMCC taught me not only how to repair cars, but how they work. It’s one thing to replace a sparkplug, but another to learn exactly how it works. SMCC gave me the tools I need to make a living in this industry.”