Genevieve Fleming shakes hands with Dr. Murtis Worth at FTCC’s graduation May 16, 2025. [Photo by Brad Losh]
Genevieve Fleming has grown up on a farm in Harnett County, surrounded by animals and, some people might think, not much else.
“I live on a farm. People would call it out in the middle of nowhere,” she said.
But growing up on a farm, Genevieve learned that no place is really in the middle of nowhere.
“But you know, we have chickens and cows and pigs. And boundary law — it’s a big part of what we do where I live.”
It was enjoying an upbringing so focused on the land that sparked Genevieve’s interest in geomatics and more broadly civil engineering. Those interests ultimately led her to FTCC, where she enrolled while still in high school through the college’s High School Connections program.
“When I found that I was interested in that field, through my family’s agricultural roots, I was passionate about that,” Genevieve said. “I found out that FTCC had that sort of program and offered it to high school students at a school that was like 45 minutes away from my house. We thought that was just a golden opportunity.”
The 17-year-old graduated from FTCC on May 16 with degrees in Civil Engineering Technology and Geomatics Technology.
She’ll be exploring her career path even further this summer with an internship at the Fayetteville Public Works Commission, where she’ll serve as a Water Resources & Geomatics intern.
Genevieve has been homeschooled since Kindergarten. Through FTCC, she was able to build a technical education on top of the academic fundamentals she’d learned from her mother, who taught Genevieve and her two brothers.
“My education up until FTCC was all my mother,” Genevieve said. “She was my principal, my guidance counselor. She was the person that got me into FTCC with High School Connections. So most of what I really learned about technical skills during high school happened at FTCC over the last two years.”
Fleming at FTCC’s graduation. [Photo by Tony Wooten]
Genevieve leaned into the full experience of being an on-campus student, graduating with a 4.0 GPA and participating in extracurricular activities, including National Technical Honor Society, Phi Beta Kappa, and Seekers Fellowship Club. She attended SGA meetings, athletic events, and events hosted by Student Activities.
“I’ve been invited to multiple career fairs, and it led to me getting the internship this summer with the Public Works Commission in Fayetteville,” she said. “So everything from recreational extracurriculars to those career fairs has been available to me as a homeschool high student, and it’s been beyond helpful.”
Genevieve’s internship will be an opportunity to apply the concepts of her classroom learning into the real world. She’ll report to a familiar face at PWC — Rodney Maness, who in addition to his role with PWC also teaches classes in the civil engineering program at FTCC.
“Our department chair, Mrs. Cathy Christianson, has gotten people from the workforce to come and teach students, and that opens up a lot of opportunities,” Genevieve said. “The programs are trying to integrate the workforce into the learning. They are teaching you what you need to know to go into the workforce, and it makes you a great job candidate.”
