Marvin Godoy-Diaz
Marvin Godoy-Diaz sets his own course in construction management
As a child in Rose Hill, Marvin Godoy-Diaz watched his father work in the construction industry as a subcontractor.
“I grew up going to job sites during the summers starting from elementary school all the way up to high school,” he said. “I would see the big bosses, the construction builders, walking up, bringing their trucks and observing the workers and pointing out things and being the leaders, and I realized I wanted to be that person in charge at construction sites.”
A junior in East Carolina University’s construction management program, Godoy-Diaz is on a path to do just that. However, like nearly half of all students in the College of Engineering and Technology who are considered nontraditional, his path wasn’t a straight line.
He graduated from high school in 2015 and decided to join the National Guard. Training and service took some time, but he eventually decided to attend Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, graduating in two years.
“I wanted to transfer over to East Carolina,” Godoy-Diaz said. “I was advised by my advisor to continue my education. I did the transfer process. I enrolled in East Carolina, and that’s when COVID began to hit.”
He completed his first two semesters at ECU online and was set to come to campus in the fall of 2022 when he received a notice from the National Guard. He would be activated in September, mere weeks after classes began.
Construction management student Marvin Godoy-Diaz sorts through tools in the high bay lab of the Science and Technology Building.
“It forced me to withdraw from school for that semester,” Godoy-Diaz said.
One semester turned into two as he assisted with border security in Texas. After a year away, he resumed his classes at ECU with one added benefit: He’s now part of ECU’s Army ROTC program.
He said many helped make his transition back to ECU successful.
“It’s been welcoming. They’re more than welcoming to older folks and veterans,” Godoy-Diaz said. “For example, they work with you and allow you to register for your classes first as a veteran. My advisor takes into consideration a lot of my wants and needs while considering my work and when I want to graduate.”
He said he has received plenty of support from instructors and advisors, and believes the program will help him achieve his career goals.
“They’re very open to working with you, which I thought would be harder because of the bigger school and coming from a community college,” he said. “But I was proven wrong because professors, they actually take time with you and are able to work with you individually. I also like the way they format their classes to where there are a lot of group projects, and they involve more critical thinking other than just the basics. It goes a lot more into the theory, and the professors work with us with the process.”
As for his fellow students, Godoy-Diaz said they don’t look at him as being different just because he’s older.
“They don’t really see it I guess because there are a lot of nontraditional students here who don’t come straight out of high school,” he said. “You see more students who are older, so it all blends in together, and you don’t really stand out much.”
Godoy-Diaz expects to graduate in the fall of 2025. He plans to continue his service in the National Guard while he begins what he hopes is a long career in residential construction.
“I would like to be able to be hired by a residential construction company in North Carolina or possibly surrounding states and be able to learn and grow confidence in the industry to where I can eventually move on and start my own residential construction business,” he said. “I want to form it with my family and be able to provide and give back to my community as a construction industry professional.”
He said being an older student does present a mental challenge, but he accepts where he’s at in his life.
“When I look back at people who graduated with me from high school, seeing the different stages where people are at, maybe some people are at a stage where I wish I was at. That might be my biggest challenge,” he said. “But I’m on my own path and not trying to stress over that. I will get there. It just comes at a different time.”