Mercer University showed Cassie (Speirs) Bruce, BUS ’15, that it’s OK to explore life’s options and change paths when necessary. That mindset ultimately landed her a career she loves as an airline pilot.
Bruce, a Tampa, Florida, resident, said Mercer appealed to her initially because it was a chance to get out of her home state. Then, a campus visit sealed the deal.
“I fell in love with the campus. I fell in love with the energy. It was nice to go to school where it felt like people would actually know me, and I’d feel like a person and not just a face,” she said.
Bruce started as a pre-med, biology major with aspirations of being a surgeon. But three semesters in, she knew that plan wasn’t going to work because she wasn’t interested in her sciences classes. Donna Terrill, director of academic advising services and undergraduate student advisor for the Stetson-Hatcher School of Business, helped her see it was all right to want something different.
“She was very much the person who was able to bring me into the fold and show me it’s not too late to change your major and it’s not too late to change your mind,” Bruce said. “(Mercer) gave me a space to pursue becoming who I am as a person and also learn the lesson that you don’t always have to take the first option that you’re given.”
After graduating with a marketing degree, Bruce went into fashion merchandising and took a job in Ohio at Abercrombie and Fitch’s headquarters. Realizing a desk job wasn’t for her, she followed in the footsteps of some of her Phi Mu sorority sisters and became a flight attendant.
Bruce decided she’d rather be in the front of the plane, leading her to Arizona to start the JetBlue Gateway Select pilot training program a year later. Most people interested in becoming a pilot take what’s called a “discovery flight” with an instructor to get a better idea of what it’s like to fly and see if it’s the right career for them. Bruce said she never did that because she knew it was what she wanted.
“I will fully admit that I have always been the kind of person to trust my gut and go with things, for better or worse,” she said.
She officially became a pilot with JetBlue in 2021, three years and three months after her first flight lesson. Bruce flies out of Orlando International Airport and mainly travels along the East Coast, with occasional transcontinental flights to the West Coast.
“I love the lifestyle of aviation. It can be very tiring at times, and this summer was crazy,” she said. “But at the end of the day, I do love it, and I never get the same day of work twice. Every day is different. It keeps it interesting.”
Bruce said she also enjoys interacting with passengers and playing a part in their vacation experience. In the future, she would like to become a check airman, a pilot approved by the Federal Aviation Administration and airline to teach and evaluate other commercial pilots.
