Cadence Davis has always had an interest in fashion. Now she’s combining it with her passion for sustainability in hopes of someday improving an industry that has long been criticized for its negative impacts on the environment.
Davis, a freshman, has found an ideal launching pad for her aspirations in the Sustainable Materials and Technology program. She hopes to pursue a career in sustainable business consulting, specifically in the fashion industry.
As one of 13 students in the program’s class of 2028, Davis said she enjoys the small class sizes and the tight-knit community. “It feels very much like a family, and I’ve met a lot of amazing people here.”
While some students may come from high schools that are more engineering-focused, Davis enjoyed a technical- and agricultural-focused education. She was involved in volunteer organizations in school, including the local chapter of Future Farmers of America.
Through Future Farmers of America, Davis was introduced to the concept of sustainability and completed several projects that involved the testing of sustainable food dyes and the development of sustainable grocery bags to reduce plastic waste.
Davis enrolled in the Sustainable Materials and Technology program because of its STEM-focused curriculum and its hands-on learning opportunities, particularly the use of 3-D printers and other state-of-the-art equipment.
“When I came to NC State to interview, I got to meet with associate professors Perry Peralta and Rico Ruffino, and they took me around the Hodges Wood Products Lab,” Davis said. “I was so excited; I never knew that stuff like that could exist. The fact that you can 3-D print using cornstarch was crazy to me.”
In her first semester, Davis has especially enjoyed SMT 200: Introduction to Sustainable Materials and Technology. In the class, which is currently taught by Ruffino, students learn how to use lab equipment and study the basics of various sustainable materials — from how they’re made to what they’re made of.
As a student from a small Georgia town, Davis has been able to pursue her dreams in part because of the abundance of resources offered by the College of Natural Resources and the Park Scholarships program. She is one of 35 students in the 29th class of Park Scholars.
“I knew that I didn’t have the amount of resources that some people might have in bigger cities,” Davis said. “So, being able to come here and be able to access all those resources was something that really excited me and made me want to pick NC State.”
The purpose of the Park Scholarships program is to identify and support exceptional students who demonstrate outstanding potential in scholarship, leadership, service and character. Out-of-state students like Davis receive four-year scholarships valued at approximately $222,000.
Davis discovered the Park Scholarships program when she began looking for full-ride scholarships offered by NC State. She had the opportunity to learn more about the program during her tour of the university.
“It was a big factor for me that it offered the money to be able to go to school,” Davis said. “When choosing between coming to NC State and other schools, I liked that the Park Scholarships program really emphasized professional development and career development.”
When she’s not in class, Davis helps local and global nonprofits through the NC State branch of 180 Degrees Consulting. She also serves as a student senator and member of NC State Student Government’s Department of Sustainability.
In her free time, Davis is passionate about environmental activism, enjoys reading and drawing, and would love to travel beyond the southeast. She looks forward to traveling more, especially before she starts a family of her own, and she would love to gain input from various communities around the world on how to better protect natural resources.
Davis said she is incredibly grateful for the opportunities that she’s been able to enjoy so far and that she is excited to see what she will do with them. She encourages students who are considering majoring in sustainable materials and technology to just go for it.
“It’s a really small major and really tight-knit and there are so many different opportunities that I feel I wouldn’t have gotten had I picked a bigger, more well-known major. Everything is so personalized,” Davis said.
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