Phillip Jones can remember driving past the Dunwoody campus while on the freeway wondering what went on inside, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that he acted on his curiosity and decided to look into what the College had to offer.
It had been some time since he had set foot inside of a classroom. After graduating high school in 2006, Jones spent a semester at a local community college, ultimately deciding not to continue there. He had been working for FedEx for well over a decade and was ready for a change.
“I decided I wanted to pursue something that would be future proof — something that would be hands-on and interesting and allow for better opportunities for the future,” he said.
As a non-traditional student with a family and a full-time job, flexibility was extremely important. That’s why the Electrical Construction Design & Project Management program stood out to him.
“It was a high flex program that allowed me to go to college full-time while also continuing to work full-time,” he said.
Not an insignificant change, but Jones took the challenge head on.
He thrived in the hands-on environment and enjoyed working on residential and commercial electrical design projects.
“It’s fun to be creative and help design spaces,” he said. “I have enjoyed learning new things under great and patient teachers that put themselves out there to make sure you succeed.”
He also took on projects that pushed him out of his comfort zone, like when he stepped up to help co-manage the capstone project in his last semester.
“Our scope was to design the lighting and power system for Ermco, a multi-level medical innovation building in Indiana,” he said.
For the project Jones helped with everything from lighting design and coordinating the team, helping to write the proposal and speaking with industry partners, to creating construction schedules and going to public speaking events.
“Perseverance and hard work are just some of the qualities that Phillip has demonstrated in his career here at Dunwoody,” said Polly Friendshuh, Construction Sciences Associate Professor.
“He may not realize this, but he is a natural born leader. As a non-traditional student with both a full-time job and family, he has made it all seem easy — even though I know he would have told me it wasn’t,” she said. “He always had the courage to answer a question, even when he wasn’t sure of the answer.”
It was through the support of instructors like Friendshuh and his wife and family that Jones was able to push through. He will be graduating in May and has received the Academic Excellence award from his department for the work he has put in.
“Receiving this award made me feel seen and validated all of the times that I worked seven days a week between work and school, often pulling 16-hour days, trying to become a different and better version of myself,” he said.
Jones is excited to continue working at Hunt Electric as a Commercial Estimator after graduation, a position he has held since this past fall.