Scott Ball, a City of Las Vegas employee, enrolled in Front Range Community College's (FRCC's) Highway Maintenance Management degree program in 2020. Read about his experience!
- Why did the Highway Maintenance Management degree program interest to you? The ability to earn a degree with past work experience was key. It made a lot of sense to me, as I am not interested in being in classroom for the 2.5-years needed to earn a degree.
- What has been the most interesting aspect(s) of the program? The Highway 101 has been my most interesting class thus far. The content is great and it was fun to share stories with other people in the class who are across the country. We had a lot of shared interests and it verified several things we do in Las Vegas and opened my eyes to new ideas. The instructor did a great job of moderating the class and keeping everyone on point.
- How has the program helped you in your current position or in your career? It has prepared me for new tasks and experiences. For example, Las Vegas grades very few dirt roads but I now know what is involved in maintaining those roads. Another example is lessons on planning federal-aid projects, which helped me prepare for federally-funded projects that were on the horizon. I now know what hoops I need to jump through to run the project successfully.
- Which local agency employees do you see benefitting from this type of program? I have 20 years of experience and have done mostly project management, design work, and construction and maintenance oversight. I think the best candidates probably have different experience. Maintenance workers and equipment operators who hope to advance at an agency should apply. This is in part because their current job experiences will easily translate into credit hours towards the degree. For example, having a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) translates into several credit hours, as does OSHA, Flagger, and other common training that maintenance and equipment operators regularly take. This means they have less classes to complete overall.
- What advice would you give to anyone enrolling? Take as much LTAP training as possible, as it is easy to verify which trainings you attended. Gather your previous training certificates ahead of time. If you are new to the industry and enrolling in the program, implement a system that makes it easy to submit prior experience portfolios. It will save a lot of time.