Jon Trussell knows his limits as a youth soccer coach for his two daughters. “I’m Ted Lasso on the soccer field,” he said with a laugh, comparing himself to the fictional ex-football coach who travels to England to become a novice professional soccer coach. “They are getting to that age that they are learning more than my knowledge. I watch a lot of videos and fake it.”
Trussell also knows when to bring in reinforcements, courtesy of the Lower Columbia College women’s soccer team. Coaches and players have worked with Trussell’s team.
“It’s been really impactful to see young kids meet college players,” he said.
The impact goes beyond the field of play, as the young players get to know the college athletes and begin to understand that they might one day play for the Red Devils or another college program.
“I had a girl where her mom called me and said, ‘hey my daughter met one of the soccer players and she wants to go to college now. She’ll be the first kid in our family to go to college,’” he said. “And she was 10 years old.”
As an LCC alum, Trussell takes particular pleasure in telling that story when talking about the connection between the college and its community. He credits LCC with helping him get started after he arrived on campus in the mid- ‘90s after graduating from R.A. Long High School.
“It was a wonderful experience,” he said. “For me, it was a great landing spot to go from high school to college and not be overwhelmed with going up to a campus of 45,000 or 50,000 students.”
Trussell’s twin brother Jim also attended LCC, where he enrolled in the fire sciences program and later joined the Longview Fire Department.
“There are so many kids who don’t necessarily want to go to college but want to become electricians, carpenters, plumbers, pipe fitters,” Trussell said. “Those are great trades where they can make $70, $80, $90 an hour.
While at the UW, Trussell became friends with Addy Clark, the woman he would marry. Addy was a Mark Morris High graduate who also attended LCC but the couple didn’t get to know each other well until they shared a class at the UW.
Addy was accepted into a post-graduate program in San Francisco and the couple moved there after graduating from Washington. Jon decided to postpone his own graduate studies and find a job while Addy was pursuing her degree. He began working in the home mortgage industry and “have been doing it ever since.”
The couple returned to Longview, where Addy worked as a school psychologist in the Longview School District and Jon continued to build his career in mortgage lending, where he now is branch manager for Synergy One Lending.
The Trussells believe in giving back to their community and have found many ways to contribute, including coaching youth sports, volunteering at their daughters’ school, and hosting foreign exchange students. This year, Addy is leading the United Way of Cowlitz & Wahkiakum Counties fund drive. In recent years, Jon has volunteered as a board member and fundraiser for CASA. Their commitment to the community includes being connected to LCC. They do not hesitate to recommend it to any student, including their own daughters.
“It’s going to give them chances to try different things; to be pushed as well,” Jon said. “There are going to be some tough classes there. Sometimes that’s what a kid needs, to be pushed a little harder. It kind of gives you an opportunity to experience things. They’re going to meet staff, professors, teachers, and students from all over and realize we’re just a small little town on a big map. There’s a ton out there and you can go for it.”