Setting an example: CVTC student to graduate in first class of IT-Data & Analytics Specialist program

Setting an example

CVTC student to graduate in first class of IT-Data & Analytics Specialist program

By Alyssa Van Duyse, Chippewa Valley Technical College

EAU CLAIRE – Amy Lewis admits she didn’t have a typical upbringing.

The experience was a give and take, she said.

Lewis and her brother were homeschooled. Because of that, they moved quite a bit. Her education stopped around the age of 15, and she wasn’t able to graduate from high school.

“It was a chaotic childhood, in a way,” she said. “But I also had adventures that a typical person who went to school from kindergarten all the way through 12^th grade wouldn’t have had.”

Now, at the age of 36, the Chippewa Falls woman is proving to her two daughters that people can do anything with determination and hard work.

Lewis received her HSED from Chippewa Valley Technical College in 2018 and will receive her IT-Data & Analytics Specialist associate degree on Thursday, May 16.

As atypical as Lewis was in her upbringing, it’s similar for her in the world of IT.

“I think the one thing that drew me to an IT field is very much that females are underrepresented,” she said. “I didn’t have the background that really set me up to be able to succeed in this, and I wanted to set forth this example of, ‘Set your mind to something and you can do it.’”

But don’t let her fool you, she loves data, although not for the reasons one might think.

For her, numbers tell a story, and that story is one of “beauty.”

“When you think of IT, you think of nerdy programming,” she joked. “But this is more of an artistic view of it, where you get to pull all of this data. You might have a large dataset, and it looks like nonsense, but then you organize and make sense out of it and create the story that it was meant to tell.”

Where others see numbers and structure, Lewis said it’s the artistic and creative storytelling that excites her.

As she approaches graduation, Lewis will wind down her work with Royal Credit Union and will bring skill and creativity to her new role at Drylock Technologies in Eau Claire. She will be doing backend IT work to make sure the company is pulling necessary data into the system for others to analyze. She’ll be working directly with the business units, helping them determine which data to include for analysis.

Kyle Loewenhagen, CVTC IT-Data & Analytics program director, said with data comes great responsibility.

“Trillions of records are being added to databases every day. Companies need well-trained professionals who understand how to take data and turn it into the useful information organizational leaders can use to make successful business decisions,” he said. “Companies and organizations need Data Analysts to not only perform analysis on historical data but also perform analytics to make futuristic projections of the data to look for opportunities for the organization.”

CVTC launched its IT-Data & Analytics Specialist program in fall 2022. This month, Lewis is one of nine students who will graduate from the new program.

“We are expecting great results from our first cohort of graduates,” Loewenhagen said. “We are pleasantly surprised with the high salaries our graduates are securing.”

Loewenhagen, who has been an instructor with CVTC for 21 years, said he noticed Lewis’ drive and work ethic shine right away in her first semester as a student leader in her cohort.

Lewis said CVTC gave her the knowledge and necessary experience to launch her career. She was able to secure her internship at Royal Credit Union as she gained knowledge in her classes. She enjoyed the hands-on learning at CVTC in technology that is being used in the workforce. Lewis said it was important to her to get the core understanding of concepts and build off of those as she learned.

Throughout her CVTC journey, she also gained confidence specifically as a woman in a predominantly male profession.

“I didn’t work for almost 10 years, and there were a lot of stereotypes that I was fighting,” she said. “Coming back into the workforce at Royal Credit Union – the leaders and supervisors I’m working under are primarily female. It’s just natural and no one’s questioning them or their authority.

“I feel like we’ve come a long way, even in the past 10 years.”

Sidebar

Amy Lewis previously received her HSED and Business Management associate degree from Chippewa Valley Technical College, but May 16 will be the first time she walks across the stage as a graduate.

“When I was picking up the other degree I just didn’t walk. I felt like if I walked, it would feel final,” she said.

She knew if she ever did walk across the stage to receive her diploma, she wanted it to be her final degree.

“Now, it’s a big deal. My sister-in-law (Alyson Downs, CVTC IT-Software Developer instructor) will be handing me the diploma, and she has been part of my journey,” Lewis said. “I’m typically not an emotional person, but I do find myself getting a little teary-eyed.”

--

ALYSSA VAN DUYSE