West Branch graduate Kody Trude has been chosen for Warrior Watch’s Alumni Watch for the month of March. He is currently in residency at UPMC Altoona for a transitional year in medicine. After his year at UPMC Altoona, he will study radiology at Autumn Hospital in Canton, Ohio. Trude’s goal is to become a radiologist in the future.
Trude graduated from West Branch in the class of 2016. After his high school career, he went to Lock Haven University, where he majored in biomedical science as his undergraduate degree. His favorite course at Lock Haven was the cadaver lab in anatomy. After that, for medical school, he went to the University of Pikeville-Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine. Trude spent a lot of time studying and taking tests. During his first year of medical school, he got to experience reading imaging in hospitals in places like Ohio and New York. He ended up moving to Mesa, Arizona, for a year to practice clinical rotations, which helped further his education in the medical field. He came back to Pennsylvania, where he is now at UPMC Altoona.
During his high school career, Trude played basketball and currently holds the all-time scoring record with 1,822 points. In his junior and senior years, his team was the District 6 runner-up and made it to the first round of states. Also, Trude was All-State in the second half of his high school career. Trude states, “I had fantastic teammates (shoutout Austin Krise, Brandon Zwick, and others) that allowed me to achieve that goal (all-time scoring record). Also, my dad played a major role in my basketball success. He coached me from the time I could start dribbling a basketball. My friends and I played over 100 games a season when we were in elementary school!”
Trude’s high school career launched his success after high school. “I think learning how to balance sports and schoolwork set me up for success later in life. I had the privilege of learning from several amazing teachers. Shoutout to Mrs. Hanslovan, Mrs. McGonigal, and Mrs. Peterson. I also had a great coach, Mr. Clark, during my time with West Branch.”
In Trude’s free time, he likes to play basketball and volleyball and has other hobbies. During his time at Lock Haven, he played intramural volleyball and basketball. When he lived in Mesa, he ran a half marathon, hiked, and played beach volleyball a lot. He also likes to build Lego sets and has an incredible shoe collection.
Congratulations to Trude for his accomplishments, and good luck on his journey in his medical career. Students at West Branch can look up to Trude and many other alumni as role models, showing that even though we come from a small school, we can still have big futures.
