Elise Coolbeth knew she wanted to attend Vermont Tech back when she was a junior in high school. She wasn’t interested in attending a large university, and the programs at Vermont Tech appealed to Elise. When she received her acceptance letter in the mail, she was ecstatic.
“For me, the college search process was not as stressful as it is for some people because I knew I wanted to go to Vermont Tech,” she says. “But waiting for my acceptance letter was stressful. I’m pretty sure I danced around my house for a good half-an-hour when it arrived and I finally read it.”
Elise says she has always enjoyed designing and building things, which made her feel right at home at Vermont Tech. “I fit in well at Vermont Tech because everyone is doing something creative and participating in abstract thinking,” she says.
While at Vermont Tech, Elise changed majors from Architectural Engineering to Construction Management, which required an extra year of coursework to earn her double degree. While the prospect of a fifth year of college was discouraging, Elise now says she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Elise now works for the Vermont Agency of Transportation inspecting current construction projects to make sure they meet specifications. “My first summer working in the field I was a bit nervous but my supervisor (a Vermont Tech graduate also) helped teach me some of the ropes, which has been a blessing. I feel like I had more knowledge of some of the paperwork that we do which gave me a head start in my position.”