WOODBURY – For this high schooler, navigating through the halls felt like a constant, silent comparison to the spirits of his two older brothers whose booming voices once ran through the Nonnewaug halls. His brother,Collin, a star wrestler. Jacob, heavily involved in the Ag Program. Grant, quiet and observant, roaming through the same territory as a different person, but living under the weight of expectations set by his family’s footsteps. 

“I wasn’t around when Jacob was here,” Grant said. “It was just Collin and me. He was two years ahead of me, so when I was a freshman he was a junior. He would drive me to school, and when it was looking like there was no place for me at lunch he would invite me to sit with him at lunch with his friends.” 

Even though he was the scrawny, small younger brother he still got to hang with the tall mature older kids. 

Lucky to have a brother in the school but even luckier to have one that watches out for him. 

Growing up on a farm meant having characteristics like a steadfast work ethic built in, and with six siblings, it always meant looking out for each other. 

Grant, Collin, and Jacob were close growing up; they’re close in age and, as boys, they were into the same type of things: a love of the outdoors and an unwavering connection to friendship. 

Grant followed Collin in the footsteps of wrestling because when they were young they would do wrestling at the YMCA in Naugatuck, an experience influenced by their dad. 

“I did look up to him when I saw him do wrestling,” Grant said when recalling his brother Collin’s wrestling experience. “I felt that I couldn’t be better than him, but I know I could be just as good.”

His family’s legacy doesn’t revolve around just Collin, but with his brother and his father, Matt, an NHS graduate from the 1980s, and their memories about being around the NHS campus. 

“Jacob was very involved with Ag; he was a different person; he was the first brother to attend [NHS among the Wilmot siblings]. He was like me, shy except he had more of an outgoing personality. So there might have been pressure on him to make a good impression for teachers for us siblings, especially in agriscience.”

Grant feels as though he and Jacob were more similar than he thought. 

“My dad also attended NHS back in the late 80s, but [he was] more on the prankster side,” Grant admitted ruefully. “I remember the time he told me he mowed his name in the school field. But when our family had our dairy farm the school would take class trips there. So they did like him for that.”

Outside of his school life, at home is where his story really starts. And it’s at home where Grant honed his work ethic and the skills he’d one day need beyond high school.

“I first went to work when I was 13, and the work was just planting a bunch of flowers around a retirement home,” Grant said. “I was in the back of the dump truck and my job was to take the plants out of the pots and then pass them to my brothers and dad then they would plant them. I remember I would just work as fast as I could because that was kind of the work mentality my dad wanted us to have.”

For Grant, it was formative moments like these that provided clarity for his future.

“Ive been landscaping for a while now and I wanted to switch careers and become a lineman; I’ve never really been interested in landscaping, but I just did it because it was my dad’s business,” Grant said. “[My father] has asked my brothers [about the family business] and they didn’t have an interest. So he asked me and I told him– ‘dad, I think I have a different calling than landscaping. It’s just not for me.’” 

This moment relieved Grant and gave him the freedom to write his own chapter in pursuing a career outside of the family business. 

“He didn’t take it personally,” Grant said. “He understands why we wouldn’t want to do landscaping for the rest of our lives, and he wants us to be the best in whatever career we choose. ”

After taking after his brothers for so many years, taking his own ideas was a change for the better. 

With all of these attributes and experiences, his dad and his brothers made Grant who he is. 

A Wilmot.