­While the old cliché mentions a person of “many hats,” Vinton native Claire Andreesen has just two.

Both of the hats she wears are unique, and each represents part of her successful college career.

Claire has just completed her first summer as a paid intern for one of the 10 biggest domestic building contractors in the U.S., and is now preparing to be a leader when the ISU Marching band performs the Cyclones’ home opener vs. UNI on Saturday.

Claire’s hard hat is put away for now, replaced with the tall white shako (pronounced “shake-oh”) she has worn as a member of ISUCF‘V’MB – The Iowa State University Cyclone Football ‘Varsity’ Marching Band – all three years of her college career. She followed a very successful high school career as a member of the Vinton-Shellburg Marching Band and Jazz Band with more musical successes at ISU, where she also plays the alto sax in the basketball pep band.

She is now one of the two guides in her nine-member saxophone rank. Earning a spot in the band was one of her first goals as a freshman two years ago.

“The band is bigger now,” says Claire. “We have 350 members.”

Although she has always loved being part of the ISU band, it’s even more fun now that she can encourage underclassmen.

“It’s even better, now that I can help the new people learn why we love the organization so much,” she says. “I like moving into the leadership roles and helping everyone out.”

Claire’s effectiveness in helping those younger musicians has already earned her a new nickname.

“The people in my rank call me 'Mom’ and I take good care of them,” she says.

The band recently received a huge honor – an invitation to play in France during D-Day memorial celebrations next June.

Claire, however, says she is unlikely to make the trip with the band, because of her schedule with McCarthy Building Companies. This summer, she spent most working days at a 300,000 square foot high school building project with a crew from McCarthy. She was in charge of giving safety presentations to new laborers, as well as communicating with architects and engineers.

“I worked out of the job site trailer, and was able to see everything ‘hands-on.’ I filled out forms to make edits to the master drawings and I would ask the architect for an RFI (request for information) about some error in the drawings, and once they responded, I was able to mark our project documents,” Claire explains.

The company has already offered Claire a position for next summer.

“They were awesome,” says Claire, who was almost always the only female at the job site.

The daughter of Larry and Jan Andreesen of Vinton, Claire is a 2013 graduate of Vinton-Shellsburg. She is majoring in Civil Engineering at ISU.

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jt September 3, 2015, 1:50 pm Always proud to see former students making their way very successfully in the adult world. Way to go, Claire!
DE September 4, 2015, 3:26 pm Love it!