Promise fulfilled: Three students thrive thanks to the Red Wing College Promise

By Katryn Conlin for the Red Wing Republican-Eagle
April, 2025

Alberto Romero Montero was one of the high school students in the room when the electrifying news was announced on October 6, 2022 -- the day the Jones Family Foundation and Minnesota State College Southeast revealed the Red Wing College Promise.

The Red Wing College Promise ensures that every eligible student graduating from a Red Wing public high school will have access to a college education at Minnesota State College Southeast by covering the cost of tuition and fees and providing a stipend for books, supplies and tools.

Alberto Romero Montero

As Alberto Romero Montero remembered, "I was in my senior year at Red Wing High School, and a bunch of us were invited over to Southeast for a tour of the campus. They kept saying there was going to be a big announcement. We were all joking around saying - oh, they're probably going to give us some pencils! But when we got into the auditorium, we found out the Jones Family Foundation would pay for us to go to college!"

Montero said at that point he didn't know what he was going to do after high school. "I wanted to do CNC but thought it would be too expensive. When they made the announcement, I was like, 'Thank God!' What was the chance of that happening?"

Now age 20, he lives in Winona and is completing a two-year diploma in CNC Machine Tool as well as an associate of arts degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences this spring. 

As a CNC Machine operator, Montero is one of three students selected to represent Southeast at the Project MFG Advanced Manufacturing regional competition. The team is traveling to Logan, UT in April to compete against the top 16 teams in the nation.

After he graduates, he is hoping to go into a medical manufacturing internship. "I am certain I can find a challenging job that pays well," he said. With a transferable associate degree, he is also in a position to continue onward at a university and earn a bachelor's degree. 

Brennan Soper

Brennan Soper also graduated from Red Wing High School in 2023. He went to an out-of-state university for one semester before enrolling at Minnesota State College Southeast in Red Wing.

"I began looking at Southeast because of the opportunity to go to college with free tuition. When I started looking through the programs, I thought, guitar repair and design -- that sounds interesting," he said. "I'm very money conscious, and I think going into debt is a big thing. I probably wouldn't have done this program without the Red Wing College Promise."

Having learned to play guitar during Covid, Soper is thriving in a class made up of students from all over the country. "I'm building two guitars, an 8-string Telecaster style electric guitar and a small body acoustic guitar."

An accomplished drummer, Soper also connected with a fellow first-year guitar student to form a deathcore metal band, which performed at the college's Strings, Winds & Brass concert at the Sheldon Theatre in March.

He appreciates the nature of the hands-on work in the guitar program. "My classes usually start with about an hour of lecture, and then you work on your projects. That's what I think is enjoyable about it. You have somebody who teaches you how to do something, and then you go and do it."

GracyMae Gernentz

A 2024 graduate, GracyMae Gernentz learned about the Red Wing College Promise when she was a high school student taking nursing assistant classes at Southeast. "Originally my plan was to go to a private college in Duluth for nursing, but I talked to my parents about it and decided, my job's here, my family's here, so it made more sense to stay."

At age 19, Gernentz is currently an online student taking prerequisites for nursing. She said it's a huge advantage to be able to keep saving money.

"I would have had to pay for all my college myself, no matter where I went. My parents make too much money for me to qualify for financial aid. I am working at four part-time jobs right now! Without the Red Wing College Promise, I would have had to work even more than I am."

Gernentz recommends that eligible students take full advantage of the 70 credits covered by the program.

"Even if you don't want to go to college full time, you can try out a few classes and see if it's something you want to do. If you eventually want to go on to a university, you have 70 credits available at Southeast to get your generals done."

Montero agreed. "If you want to go further in college, Southeast is a good steppingstone because you can go on from here to achieve higher education. If you don't know exactly what you want to do, you can test out many things to see what the right choice is for you, thanks to the Red Wing College Promise."

Photo captions:

Top: Alberto Romero Montero operates the Haas 5-Axis CNC machine in the advanced manufacturing lab at Minnesota State College Southeast in Winona.
Middle: Brennan Soper works on building a small bodied acoustic guitar in the Guitar Repair and Building program at Southeast in Red Wing.
Bottom: GracyMae Gernentz is taking online classes to complete her prerequisites for the Associate of Science in Nursing degree at Southeast.