The three Townsend brothers received nearly identical diplomas at Spring 2014 Commencement ceremonies, distinguishable only by each of their names. Noel, 37, Jason, 36, and Clayton, 33, all earned bachelor’s degrees in petroleum engineering.

“To us, it’s been no big deal, but, people do seem to be kind of surprised by us all going back to school together and getting the same degree,” Jason said.

The brothers, who grew up in Hattiesberg, Miss., enrolled at the University of Louisiana in fall 2011, although they had never been the types to tackle an undertaking as a group, and aren’t even much alike.

“Noel is soft-spoken, reserved and a leader,” Clayton said. Jason’s “a doer” and “very assertive” he added, “ and “I’m the antithesis of that, much more passive.” Noel put it more succinctly: “We have the same mother and father, and that’s pretty much it.” The three came together thanks to Jason, who said he finally decided to heed the advice of their father, a former engineer in the U.S. Navy, who had been urging them all toward the engineering profession for years.

Jason had followed in dad’s footsteps once before, enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps after high school. An intelligence specialist, he served in Iraq and Afghanistan. This time, he decided to bring his brothers along. Jason mentioned the idea to Noel first. “It was pretty easy to talk him into it.”

Noel was working as a manager at Kinko’s at the time. “I couldn’t go any higher without uprooting and relocating,” he noted. Clayton, who was working for his older brother at Kinko’s, was soon on board, too. Both Noel and Clayton had attended the University of Southern Mississippi years before and left without degrees. All three took community college courses before they enrolled at UL.

Clayton admits he didn’t know all that much about petroleum engineering at first. “It wasn’t something I was very familiar with. No high school counselor ever mentioned it, and I had never read anything about it.” Jason, who had been working as president of Townsend Brothers Inc., a mechanical contracting company in Hattiesberg, said economics quickly helped the brothers select petroleum engineering. “I won’t fluff it, petroleum engineering jobs pay the best, by a lot,” Jason said.

According to a recent report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, petroleum engineering is the top-paying undergraduate major. Graduates who received bachelor’s degrees in that field in 2013 earned an average starting salary of $97,000, it states. That's about $27,000 more than the second-highest starting salary, which was earned by grads with computer engineering degrees.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the mean annual wage for petroleum engineers is $149,180. The top 10 percent earn an average salary of $186,520; the lower 10 percent make $74,240 per year.

For the brothers, their decision to go back to school is paying off. Noel has accepted a job with Petra Consultants in Lafayette, where he will be a facilities engineer. Jason has taken a job with Weatherford International in Houston, where his focus will be on managed pressure drilling. Clayton, who wants to land a field engineering position, expects to hear back on one of his top job prospects as early as this week.

The plan is to gain experience, then eventually go into business together. “Our goal is to start our own consulting company,” Jason said. They chose UL , Jason said, because there were no petroleum engineering programs in Mississippi.

They also favored the individual attention they expected to receive, and ultimately got, at the University of Louisiana.

“The (Petroleum Engineering) Department is outstanding. The professors are very knowledgeable, and have many contacts for jobs and internships,” Clayton said. More than 470 students were enrolled in the petroleum engineering program this spring. Of this semester’s 33 petroleum engineering graduates, the brothers all finished in the top 5 percent, said Dr. Faith Boukadi, who is head of the department. “They are some of the best students, and very hardworking,” he said.



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