Scholarship Recipients Set Sights on Industry Careers
NPCA recently awarded nine undergraduate students with an NPCA Foundation Scholarship to help them reach their educational goals and begin building a future in the precast concrete industry. In this issue, NPCA features three of the student recipients. Find out more about their introduction to precast, educational goals and interests.
Olivia Higgins
Austin, Texas
University of Texas
Olivia Higgins always knew that she wanted to be an engineer. Growing up, she was very hands-on, taking an interest in building activities, problem solving and creativity. Throughout high school, she was in an ACE mentorship program where she got to work on building designs and other projects guided by engineers and architect mentors. She loves the process of brainstorming the building designs and then getting to see the creation in the real world and how it affects society. Now, Higgins will be entering her freshman year at the University of Texas to study civil engineering.
Jacob Steinhoff
Evanston, Illinois
South Dakota State
Jacob Steinhoff had the opportunity to visit a lot of national parks when he was growing up, which first sparked his interest in precast concrete. Steinhoff saw the work the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did, and the bridges and buildings they built, a lot of which are precast. Seeing that, Steinhoff was inspired to learn more about the industry. Steinhoff is going into his freshman year at South Dakota State to study concrete industry management (CIM). He was originally interested in mechanical engineering through some classes he took in high school, but later realized he wanted to study something more niche. After a little bit of research, he realized CIM was the perfect fit for him as it allows him to be more hands-on in the field.
Kyle Ziringer
Hilliard, Ohio
Columbus State University
Kyle Ziringer would describe himself as always being a curious kid. Ever since he was little, Ziringer loved building and was always interested in construction. He has always loved heavy equipment and seeing workers do projects, his dad being one of them. He would often help his dad out with various projects that he was working on. Then, in his junior year of high school, Ziringer got the opportunity to visit a career center and participate in construction technologies program that taught him all the basics of construction, from carpentry and masonry to roofing, and that’s how he ended up studying construction management at Columbus State University.