Florida Tech Scholar-Athlete Spotlight Recognizes Lacrosse Player Brett Nastos
By Jerry Durney, Florida Tech News Bureau // November 19, 2023
Nastos is majoring in Aerospace Engineering

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Being a scholar-athlete at Florida Tech takes an incredible amount of hard work and dedication to excel both in the classroom and on the field.
Panther men’s lacrosse player Brett Nastos, a junior who is majoring in Aerospace Engineering, joins us for a new edition of Scholar-Athlete Spotlight.
Making the journey to Melbourne from Sykesville, Maryland, Brett made eight starts in 2023 as a defensive midfielder, recording 19 ground balls, three goals, two assists, and two caused turnovers. Nastos has been named to the Sunshine State Conference Commissioner’s and Florida Tech Athletic Director’s Honor Roll after each of his first two seasons.
Brett joined us to talk about what he wants to get out of such a challenging major and how he makes it all work.
Tell us a little bit about your major here at Florida Tech, what made you choose it?
So, I’m an aerospace engineering major with a focus on aeronautics. I’ve always been interested in the aerospace industry since I was a little kid with my family being kind of deep in it.
My father works at Southwest, so I’ve been merged around planes, being like ‘Man, that’s so cool,’ going to the airport and seeing a huge 737. Even my great-grandfather’s family history. He worked at Grumman, where he was a pretty big engineer over there and my other family member, worked at Douglas back in the 40s. So, it’s pretty big in my family and I like it.
What do you want to do with that major once you’ve graduated?
Anything planes related. The main thing I want to focus on more is the defense sector working with fighter jets or bombers.
What was it about Florida Tech that made you want to make such a long trip from home?
The job opportunities after college. You’ve got the big companies like Northrop Grumman here, NASA, SpaceX, L3Harris, and even private jet companies such as Embraer, and Piper down south. That’s made Florida a place to be for anything air especially.
What’s something from your classes that you didn’t know about your major before?
How a rocket moves through space and pushes off itself, I never would have thought about that.
Is there a teammate or fellow athlete who you’ve become study buddies with?
Yeah, I’m fortunate to have two of my teammates who are aerospace engineering majors in my class, I live with one of them and one of them is my next-door neighbor. So, we’re always all in the same class together, just working out together, helping each other out, bouncing things off of each other. When there’s a problem, we just go ask the group chat and just talk about it.
What are some things you need to get the most out of your study time? Do you have a playlist or need to be by yourself in a room?
I just can’t be in my room, I gotta go to the library third floor, one of those desks. A big thing that I got that helped a lot is I got some noise-cancelling headphones, and I’ll just play mellow beats kind of low where it won’t interrupt my thoughts but it’s what’s keeping me in check.
How has being a collegiate athlete prepared you for what you’re doing now and what do you take from the field that you apply to your studies?
100%, the thing we have with our team here is a high standard, just being there, being accountable, being disciplined, translates great from lacrosse. Show up to class early, sit front row, pay attention, and go to every class. It’s the same things that you do at practice: show up early to practice, be their full attention, ready to play. Just be ready.
What advice would you give to an athlete coming to Florida Tech who has an interest in Aerospace Engineering?
Ask around for help and make friends within your major, that’s the biggest thing I’d say.
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