Karla Chavez's educational aspirations were sparked in the home and nourished by Central Piedmont. 

Her father's passion for learning inspired this first generation graduate to reach for the stars. "With the little formal education he had, my dad went back to school and obtained his HVAC license. He was always reading engineering books when I was growing up," she explained. "I fell in love with engineering because you can engineer anything you can think of." 

Karla was also driven by what she saw as a lack of women in the field. "Society tends to steer us away from STEM fields and toward more 'caregiving' fields," she said, "I want to share these fields with other women like myself so we can make a difference in our communities and all over the world."

With a vision in place, she attended Central Piedmont to complete her GED and eventually completed both an A.A. (2017) and A.A.S. in Construction Management Technology (2018). 

Karla credits Central Piedmont for offering the support she needed to succeed. "When I attended Central Piedmont, I was a non-traditional student who was juggling multiple responsibilities and many life-events that changed my life forever. Yet, I found so many people who never stopped believing in me," she said. "Every faculty member, instructor, and classmate became more than just a familiar face. The support I received at Central Piedmont was powerful."

Today, Karla Chavez wears many different hats. She is a mother, a caregiver, a project coordinator at a construction company, an active member of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC), and student at UNC Charlotte in pursuit of her bachelor's degree with plans to obtain her masters.