Courtesy Western Nevada College is awarding its first bachelor's degrees in construction management this spring. The first three graduates are, left-right, Shu Nomura, Brett Silva and Jim Feser.
Western Nevada College will award its first bachelor's degrees at its commencement ceremony on Tuesday, and all three graduates of the Construction Management program are already employed and looking forward to a long career in the industry.
The three students are a diverse group, coming from Carson City, Maryland and Japan. While studying for their degree, they were as likely to be found on the job site as in the classroom.
Most of the students enrolled in and preparing for the program would be classified as non-traditional, with a background in construction and looking for a chance to obtain higher-level expertise in their field.
Jim Feser fits that mold: He wanted to combine real-world experience with a practical college degree.
Feser was one of the first on board with the construction sequence when it was offered cooperatively with the University of Nevada, Reno.
"It's definitely well-rounded," Feser said. "It gives you a little bit of experience in everything."
Feser has now started his own construction consulting company.
The college recruited Jerold Stegeman, Ph.D., to teach several of the upper division courses in the program.
"These students will make extremely good alumni and they are a representative cross-section of the construction industry," Stegeman said. "All three have great futures ahead."
Although Shu Nomura is a long way from Japan, he's following in the footsteps of a family tradition. Both his father and grandfather are engineers, and that's what inspired him. His education has taken him from studying engineering at UNR, to a degree in drafting at Truckee Meadows Community College, a bachelor's degree in general studies at UNR, and now a Bachelor of Technology Degree in Construction Management from WNC.
His job experience includes employment at a civil engineering company in Reno.
"I had a great time in school at UNR, TMCC and Western. I had good experiences and great teachers. I was learning all the time and it was a great thing to do."
Brett Silva came to Nevada from Silver Springs, Md., after visiting the area and deciding he liked it. He already had an associate degree in construction management from a college in Maryland, but decided he wanted more education.
While studying at WNC, Silva worked for a company that built the Fandango Casino in Carson City and also in Reno on a couple of business renovations.
Soon Silva will be flying back to Maryland to work for his father's company.
Like the others, he was positive about the WNC program. "I liked all the professors and teachers. It's been a really good experience for me."