State lottery-funded scholarships help teen work as land mechanic he loves

His dad worked on cars his whole life, and Brayden Carroll, a teenager from East Tennessee, thought a job as a mechanic would give him stability and a steady paycheck for a long time.

“Everyone uses machines,” Carroll said with a shrug.

So Carroll, 19, of Elizabethton, Tennessee, decided that after high school he would go to a nearby trade school and learn how to repair off-road diesel engines. Farm equipment, lawn mowers, that sort of thing.

But he didn't really know how to pay for it. Her mother lives primarily on disability and her father, a military veteran, works in a factory, and they didn't have much savings.