Foundation is Everything

Your foundation is everything when you’re building something.

Just ask LCCC alum Devon Francis. He’s a welder with a career arc that combines business management, engineering, servant leadership and lifelong learning. Today, he’s an engineering lead supporting the customer experience with Victaulic, a global producer of pipe joining systems. 

Francis attended Dieruff High School in Allentown, Pa., graduating in 2002. He learned about LCCC through the dual enrollment program and aspired to be a lawyer. After graduating high school, he was initially working on an associate degree in paralegal studies at LCCC. 

The Something that Became Everything

But life had different plans for Francis. He became a teen dad prior to graduating high school, and this brought on a deep and urgent need to be a viable provider for his son. So, at the encouragement of his mother, he decided to try something completely different and new. That something was welding.  

It proved to be a means to provide for his son, and it exposed Francis to his capacity to teach and develop others. Welding ultimately sparked his curiosity to take a really big next step. 

“I found it very rewarding and fulfilling to encounter people and teach them things, being able to manage them and see them progress,” says Francis. “So I said, ‘Alright, if I could get a degree in management, I’ll learn better ways to help people be better.’” 

Demonstrating the Value of Education

Now, years later, with his son soon to enter high school, Francis also wanted to demonstrate the value of education through his own actions. 

He returned to LCCC and earned an associate degree in business management in 2019. He continued his education at DeSales University to complete his bachelor’s degree in business management, and given his drive to keep learning, he is on track to earn his master of business administration degree from DeSales next year. 

He was a full-time engineering technician with Lehigh University through 2021, where he assisted graduate students, and he started with Victaulic later that same year. Francis celebrates his continued learning and the culmination of a vibrant career in STEM. It’s the kind of career he as a young welder never expected.  

Francis says LCCC set him up for success, going all the way back to his fundamentals of writing course in 2001. 

“I literally still have a piece of paper with punctuation help and writing advice that my professor gave to me. I used it as a guide all through my bachelor’s program,” says Francis. “It’s those basics that give you a foundation, and your foundation is everything.”

The spirit of possibilities keeps Francis engaged with LCCC as a member of the alumni board, taking him back to Dieruff and into other classrooms in Allentown School District and across the Lehigh Valley.  

“LCCC is a really good school, and I want these kids to know about it and take full advantage of it,” says Francis. “There’s a multitude of careers out here, and I want to expose them to as many ideas as possible.” 

Teaching, learning and mentoring are at the center of Francis’ character. These qualities are what motivate him as a community volunteer with Carbon Career & Technical Institute, Minsi Trails Council Explorer Post 1919, Lehigh Valley Awesomefest and more.  

A Voice for Every Worker

These same qualities also fuel his drive for a future in upper management supporting his peers. 

“I’ve worked with some of the most intelligent people I know in the blue collar world, and I just want to make sure that we’re being represented the right way. That’s my goal,” says Francis. “I want to essentially get as high-ranking as I can, so I can be a voice for every worker, no matter where they’re starting from.”