Children give motivation to finish degree
–RYAN PLEGGENKUHLE, Communique’
With five children under the age of 18, a full-time job at Alliant Energy, attending Kirkwood Community College as well as being selected as an outstanding student, pre-engineering major Adam Clymer is being humble when he describes himself as hardworking.
Clymer graduated from Washington High School in Cedar Rapids as valedictorian of his class in 1994. While in high school he was involved in band, orchestra, backstage drama, the honors program and participated in an academic decathlon.
In his first year of attending the University of Iowa, Clymer got his first job at The Picture People, a company-owned portrait studio. While working for The Picture People, Clymer worked on various projects and was involved in the entire photography process. He worked in the photography business for 13 1/2 years. A year ago, the company went through an economic decline. They made major cuts that affected him as well as over half of the company’s employees. Clymer decided to take this opportunity to go back to school.
Clymer chose Kirkwood because of its convenient commute, small class sizes and the ability to be able to talk to professors individually. “I enjoy Kirkwood because of the level of attention you get. When I attended the University of Iowa there would sometimes be 300 people in a class. It is nice to be able to ask your professor a question,” said Clymer.
Clymer lives in Cedar Rapids and works full-time at Alliant Energy as an engineering technician. As an engineering technician, Clymer must be creative, have good communication skills as well as having the ability to work well with others. At Alliant, he assists engineers and scientists with research and development as well as solving technical problems.
Clymer said he is motivated by his two youngest children to finish his degree.
“My 2-year-old and 10-month-old push me to finish my degree. I want to be able to set them up so that will be provided for in the future,” said Clymer. Clymer’s children range in age from 10 months to 18 years old.
In the small amount of free time Clymer does have, he enjoys photography and playing with computers. After the summer semester at Kirkwood, Clymer plans to transfer to the University of Iowa to earn his electrical engineering degree.
[Courtesy Kirkwood Communique’. Copyright 2009. Used by permission.]