Heights High School grad recently named to Blue Angels’ maintenance crew

Following in the footsteps of his father, Wichita-native AS1 Trevor Neuroth enlisted in the US Navy shortly after graduation from Wichita Heights High School in 2006. Now, more than a decade later, Neuroth was named to the Blue Angels’ maintenance crew for 2020.

Jeanne-Marie Neuroth, Trevor’s mother, said he will serve on a team of about 20 other people that will be “in charge of making sure the airplanes are ready to fly.” During training this October, he will be assigned to a specific plane which he will be responsible for in the aerobatic team.

“They make sure that everything is ready to go and nothing is wrong with the planes,” Jeanne-Marie said.

He’s always been good with his hands, she said. From a young age, he was always busy playing with Legos and as he got older, he excelled in shop and automotive classes. As a teenager, he purchased an old Camaro that he restored in his free time.

“When his dad was alive, he was always working on the car,” she said. “He always liked working on cars and he was geared toward mechanics.”

As he neared graduation, Jeanne-Marie said he wanted to go to the NASCAR school to become a pit crew member, but his path veered toward the military. From there, she said she assumed he’d want to go into “the building area of the military,” but one more time, his plans shifted as he joined the Navy.

“He always had it in the back of his head, I guess,” Jeanne-Marie said.

With a December birthday, Trevor had to wait until the January after he graduated from high school to go to boot camp. After he turned 19, he attended Great Lakes’ Recruit Training Command in Chicago.

Most of Trevor’s career in the Navy has been focused on maintenance. As an aviation specialist, he works on the airplanes aboard the naval ships. He is currently aboard the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship stationed in Jacksonville, FL.

With eight years left in his service, Jeanne-Marie said he’s far surpassed expectations. She said he’s ranked equal to what his father was when he retired from the Navy after 20 years. In 2011, Trevor’s father died of lung-cancer.

“I just think his dad would be jumping up and down (with pride),” Jeanne-Marie said.

Although Trevor’s life took a different shape than what she had expected for him, she said she’s thrilled with all he’s accomplished.

“I’m just really proud of him and if his father was still around, he would be too,” she said.

This story was originally published August 5, 2019 at 5:00 AM.