By the time Sam Steele graduates from Missouri S&T, the mining engineering junior who is also a Kummer Vanguard Scholar, will already have experience working in underground salt mines in New York, surface phosphate operations in Florida and a blasting company in Herman, Missouri.

Steele grew up in Kansas, and his dad is a mining engineering alumnus of S&T. As a first-year student, Steele wasn’t sure that was what he wanted to do. But when he switched from undecided to mining engineering during his sophomore year, he knew it was the right choice. 

He already has a wide range of mining experience from all over the country.

Steele started as a surface and underground miner with Lyons Salt Co. interned with Buckley Powder Co, where he supported blasting operations. He also completed a mining engineering co-op with Cargill at the Cayuga Salt Mine in New York and is currently working in a mining engineering co-op with The Mosaic Co. in Florida.

“Getting that experience from the start made a big difference in deciding if I was to do this for a career,” he says. “It was really good. I got to blow stuff up!”

As a Kummer Vanguard Scholar, Steele has gained leadership experience as a member of the Student Steering Committee.

“I did that freshman year because I had an interest in getting involved,” he says. “I wanted to help design the program while being a part of it.”

What Steele once described as a pipe dream has begun to take shape. His personal entrepreneurial project, which focused on mineral exploration using drones, helped him get a George Webber Scholarship through his department.

“With different wavelengths of light, you can reflect different minerals to a camera,” Steele says. “So, I wanted to design a cheaper one, because these cameras are thousands of dollars. I’m building the camera before I build the drone. It’s definitely a passion of mine. It just started as a hobby. Now it’s got potential to be more.”

Steele says last fall, he met his scholarship’s donor, George Webber, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mining engineering from S&T in the 1970s. He and his wife established the scholarship for students in mining engineering in 2022.

“He met all the scholarship recipients and tested us on our ideas to see if we knew our stuff,” Steele says. “It was interesting, because I may have been the only undergrad there.”

Steele says if the prototype goes well, he wants to keep pursuing the project and get his master’s degree at S&T in geospatial engineering.

“I can decide then if it’s a viable career path or a viable company,” he says.

After he leaves S&T, Steele wants to work abroad as a mine planning engineer then eventually work at either a sloping or caving mine.

“I’d like to go to Australia or South America as my top options. Or even Alaska,” he says. “There are mines in some pretty cool places.”

In the long term, he’d like to start a consulting firm with his dad, Nathan Steele. He’s been in the mining business a long time.

“He’s finishing up his career at a salt mine in Kansas as the general manager. He said he wants to start consulting, so we will see where that takes him and if it lines up for me as well,” Steele says “By that time, I’ll have some experience in different mines, professionally. It could be a really interesting opportunity.”

Steele says he values his experiences at S&T through the Kummer Vanguard Scholars program, professional development, the career fair and hands-on involvement. 

He also traveled abroad through Engineers Without Borders to work on a project in Kenya last year.

“S&T has really prepared me for the future,” Steele says. “The ways that I’ve been able to get involved have been pretty tremendous. And the Engineers Without Borders team helped me flesh out my resume more than the average mining engineering student.”

Steele says the Kummer Vanguard Scholars program plays a large role in preparing him for his future career.

“The entrepreneurial aspects have been huge,” Steele says. “I’ve had networking opportunities with alumni and have gotten to take advantage of the speakers they bring on campus, and that’s been a really great opportunity.”

For new students at S&T, Steele has one big piece of advice: get involved from day one.

“Classes are important, but the networking and the extracurricular opportunities are going to help you way more in getting a job than a good GPA, especially for mining,” he says. ‘It’s also important to find a hobby outside of your career and school. Burnout is a real issue. Be sure to pace yourself.”