Instructor Spotlight Gerard Lunow

For instructor Gerard Lunow, his own career path has given him a checklist for his students to follow.

Lunow was raised in the Netherlands and joined the Royal Navy. His military travels took him to the U.S. Eastern Seaboard and Lunow said he decided then and there that he would be back.

A year later he moved to the U.S., with no money and hopes to stay at least a year. Now, 30 years later, he never left and has made the U.S. his home.

Lunow earned an engineering degree as well as an MBA so he could stretch his responsibilities and work in various capacities at General Electric where he was employed.

After retiring last year, Lunow became an instructor at Bryant & Stratton College and passes on his on-the-job knowledge to his students. Number one, he says, is to continue to work toward improving.

“When I applied for my job it was by phone interview. They wanted to know if I had a degree. Check. They wanted to know if I had this or that. It’s all checkmarks.

“It became so apparent that first they wanted to know if I had the training,” Lunow said. “Education is such a crucial thing to have. If you do, all of a sudden you can do anything.”

At General Electric, Lunow traveled the world teaching employees how to fix the company’s machines. He said he loved his job and was only able to obtain the position through continued education, much like the classes he teaches at Bryant & Stratton College.

“If you start with a two-year degree you get yourself in a spot where you are employable and then you can start your career and get excited about it and move on from there,” he said.

“Some people come in and have a horrible attitude but I can tell when they see the light and see what is possible and that’s fantastic,” he said.