Even before she talks about engines or wiring harnesses or the satisfying clunk of a problem solved, the first thing you notice about Vylett Rush is the spelling of her name. It's a hybrid of her parents' imaginations—her mom wanted something unique, her dad wanted a flower—and in an unexpected way, it perfectly foreshadows the life she's building: distinctive, grounded, and blooming on her own terms.

Now a senior at Byron, Vylett is standing at the edge of a future she's already shaping with her own hands. By this time next year, she expects to be in an automotive program—either Rock Valley College or United Technical Institute—leaning fully into the world that hooked her sometime after she decided she hated it.

It's true.

Freshman-year auto shop was "the most boring thing ever," she says with an honesty that never wavers. The intro class felt flat. Repetitive. Dry. But she stuck with it, and somewhere between sophomore and senior year, something clicked. The projects became more hands-on, the problems more interesting. Friends who loved cars pulled her deeper into the culture. She started going to car shows—first the ones in town, then the ones farther away—and the more she saw, the more she wanted to know.

"Once I actually got into it, I was like, this is cool," she says. "Every day there's something new to work on."

Her face lights up when she talks about the steady stream of vehicles that roll into the shop. Her own car, a 2004 Chevy Impala, has been a rolling classroom. She's installed new headlights, swapped in a new radio, and changed her own oil. Where others see a headache waiting to happen, she sees an invitation. Before the Impala, she had a Dodge Avenger. "It has the 3.8 engine, which is one of the best," she says—the kind of detail only someone who truly loves cars would notice.

And she's doing it in a space where very few girls ever make it this far. "There's like no other girls at my level," she says. Some join in their freshman or sophomore year, but most drift away. She didn't. She stayed. Not because she had something to prove, but because she genuinely loves the work.

"You don't need heft to work on a car," she says. "You just have to have a good brain and know what you're doing."

If she could have any car in a show, she'd choose an IROC-Z Camaro from the '80s or '90s. "They're kind of weird looking, and I don't know, not the most favored kind of Camaro, but I really like them," she says. Her dream car for a while was a Dodge Charger. But taste changes. Interests evolve. The constant is the work itself.

The longer she stayed in the Byron automotive shop, the more she thrived. And she credits Mr. Reidner, her auto teacher, for creating the kind of environment that makes students want to keep learning. "We have guest speakers all the time from colleges and even companies," she says. JX Trucking, for instance, visited to talk about fleet work. Dealerships have reached out. Training opportunities are everywhere.

Her post-high school plan: she's aiming for a dealership job, where she can learn on the job and get paid while doing it. "Because they will train you on the job too. And they pay you while you do it, too," she explains. She knows the automotive field is changing, but she sees that evolution as opportunity. "Even on electrical vehicles, too, they still have a lot of things to work on," she says.

Outside of school, she works as a cook at the local golf course. "It's like bar food, to be honest," she says with a grin. Burgers, chicken wraps, Italian beef. Comfort food for people who unwind while she develops a completely different set of skills behind the counter.

She has a younger sister, ten years old, who can already spot a Mustang or Camaro and who loves Dodge Challengers. Whether she'll follow her big sister into the shop is unclear, but the seed of car culture is definitely planted.

Looking ahead to her ten-year reunion, Vylett doesn't hesitate. She'll talk about how welcoming Byron has been, how fair and steady her teachers were, how everyone had an equal shot to succeed. "Everyone's accepting here," she says. "No one picks favorites."

There is a quiet power to the way Vylett moves through her world. Nothing flashy. Nothing loud. Just a young woman who found something she loves, stayed with it, and became good at it. She is proof that the most interesting futures often grow from unexpected sparks.

She's ready for the next chapter—tools in hand, curiosity wide open, and a road full of possibilities ahead.