Nontraditional Student Adams Finds Career Path at Keene State

Becky Adams will graduate from Keene State in May, but she won’t be going far. A nontraditional student who took a nontraditional route to her degree, a BS in Safety and Occupational Health Applied Sciences, Adams, 31 and a single mother, not only lives in Keene, but will be working locally as well, having secured a much-coveted job with Engelberth Construction.

Adams couldn’t ask for a more suitable position. Engelberth is recognized as one the largest and most dynamic commercial construction companies in Northern New England and, like Keene State, has a Main Street address. “I don’t know if I could have found a better fit,” said Adams. “I know that it’s very early on, but I trust my intuition. It just feels good.”

If that wasn’t good enough, Adams will occasionally be back on campus as well, working on the construction of Pondside IV, the new dorm project at KSC set to begin this summer. “Having a construction background and a formal degree gave me many qualities that Engelberth was looking for when they were considering me for a position,” Adams said. “But just starting out my career allows them to mold and train me to fit their needs.” Adams will work as a field safety assistant for Engelberth with responsibilities that include assisting the safety director, performing site visits, audits and pre-planning.

Currently putting the finishing touches on her degree, Adams showed an affinity for construction from the first time she picked up a hammer, helping to build a two-part modular home while still at Keene High School. Adams, who liked working with her hands and enjoyed woodworking, was a frequent visitor to Bensonwood Homes’ shop in nearby Walpole and got a job with that company, known as a premier designer-builder of energy-efficient timber frame, hybrid, and other high-performance homes and commercial buildings, after graduating.

Returning to the area after spending a year in Europe, which included architecture classes at Oxford-Brookes University in England, Adams reconnected with Bensonwood, which sent her to Aspen, CO, to build homes. A three-month job turned into a six-year stay for Adams, a snowboarding and rock-climbing enthusiast who couldn’t resist the opportunity to work and play in the snow.

A downturn in the housing market, coupled with the birth of her daughter, brought Adams back home. “No matter where I went, I always considered Keene home,” she said.

When she decided to go back to school, enrolling at Keene State in the fall of 2012, she wasn’t quite sure what road to take. However, after taking Dr. Larry McDonald’s intro course in Safety Awareness, Adams found her calling. She has enjoyed being back in the classroom. “You have a lot more appreciation for school when you’re paying for it. It was under my own terms – no one was telling me I had to go,” said Adams, who also enjoyed the opportunity to pick classes that appealed to her. “I love the liberal arts education because I have a wide variety of interests,” she said.

McDonald called her an “outstanding student.” “As with most nontraditional students, Becky has very clear goals and has worked very hard in her planning to ensure she reaches her goals,” said McDonald, who also serves as Adams’s advisor.

Always looking to expand her horizons and stay engaged, Adams also got involved in student activities, becoming an active leader in the Student Section of the American Society of Safety Engineers and in Rho Sigma Kappa, the Safety Honor Society. Each year the safety faculty at KSC honors a graduating senior with the PRIMEX Safety Leadership Award. McDonald said Adams’s accomplishments stand out, making her the unanimous choice for this year’s award.

Adams has also enjoyed several new and innovative programs added to the safety curriculum, including a Management Systems course and an OSHA Outreach Training Center on campus. Last summer, she took her education to another level by doing an internship with the Newport, NH-based Ruger Firearms, one of the nation’s leading manufacturers of rugged, reliable firearms for the commercial sporting market.

Adams said the internship at Ruger and the mentorship of Donald Olesen, Manager- Environmental, Health and Safety with the company, was an invaluable experience. “He set up a wonderful program for us and brought us through all the training that he thought we would need,” said Adams about her wide-ranging internship that included assessments (Personal Protective Equipment Hazard Assessments as required by the OSHA General Industry Standard) and chemical identification as well as time on the firing ranges.

“Becky has a lot of responsibility in life and she takes her responsibilities quite seriously,” said Olesen. “She worked very hard for me and helped me accomplish all the goals I had established for the internship. Becky also applied her technical background to her internship, which gave her a leg up on the rest of the interns.”

Those responsibilities, which include caring for her now four-year-old daughter, haven’t deterred Adams from completing her education “She is well known in the Safety Department. Her favorite teacher has treats on their desk for her, and they all welcome her into their classes,” said Adams about her daughter. “She’s extremely bright and very articulate and very well behaved. She’s come to my Earth’s science class and, rather than color or read her book, she sits and listens to the lecture. We were covering polar bears and penguins, and she found it fascinating and had questions for my teacher after class.”

Adams has also enjoyed her classes and says she will miss being at the College. “I’ve honestly loved every class I’ve taken at Keene State and tried really hard to put a lot of effort into it,” Adams said.

“If I could afford it I’d go to college forever,” she added. “I love learning just about everything. There may be a few calculus courses I wouldn’t particularly enjoy, but for the most part I could take any course on campus and really enjoy it. I think it’s very important to consistently expand your horizons and continue learning.”