CCC student Andrea Clayton received the All-Arizona Academic Scholarship. Courtesy photo.
FLAGSTAFF — What started out as a desire to build a home she could call her own has turned into a career path.
Now that Coconino Community College student Andrea Clayton has received the All-Arizona Academic Scholarship, she will continue her journey toward a bachelor’s degree in Construction Technology Management and, maybe, owning her own business.
“There’s a certain satisfaction in building with my own hands,” Clayton said, adding that she hopes to gain some experience managing projects for a local contractor before trying to strike out owning her own business.
Clayton was one of two students from CCC who received the prestigious 2022 All-Arizona Academic Team Scholarship. The scholarship, awarded to members of the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society for community college students, offers free tuition for 60 credit hours at the recipient’s choice of one of the three state universities.
The scholarship award will be ever so helpful, Clayton said.
“I will be 46 when I graduate,” she added. “It means I won’t have to worry about taking on a heavy load of debt at this point in my life, and that’s huge.”
As a CCC2NAU student, she will transfer to Northern Arizona University to continue her studies in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree, which could help her in the dream of building her own home.
Clayton said she’s never been the one to sit behind a desk. Plus, she’s always been the girl who liked to do “boy” things growing up, and she’s more than happy to help change the perception that the construction trades are just a boy’s club.
“I definitely plan on staying in Flagstaff,” she said. “I’m already employed with a local building supply company, but I have my eye on contracting companies.”
After she gets some project management experience, she’ll decide if she wants to stick with working for somebody else, or if she wants to work for herself.
Clayton is a member of the CCC Beta Gamma Chi chapter of PTK. The honors society recognizes the academic successes of students at two-year colleges, provides students with leadership opportunities, and offers transfer scholarships. During her time with PTK, she was the vice president of scholarship and of fellowship.
Clayton said enjoyed the service opportunities offered by PTK. She added that poor decisions in her past has made her want to contribute to her community as an adult.
She chose to enroll at CCC after her youngest daughter graduated from high school. She wanted to offer encouragement to her daughter, so she said “Let’s enroll together.”
“We can better ourselves at any point in our lives,” Clayton said and smiled. “What else are you going to do? Might as well do something productive.”
For more information about Coconino Community College’s Construction Technology Management program and other CCC2Work programs, visit https://www.coconino.edu/ccc2work