Avalos needs a few tries to determine his path — now it’s set to pay off
He grew up in Chico, earned Construction Management degree
CHICO >> Baseball lured Mateos Avalos away from Chico and to Cabrillo College, in Aptos, just a few miles south of Santa Cruz. Despite the ocean, the beach and the ballfield, however, Avalos discovered the game didn't mean as much to him any longer.
“I thought baseball would be everything to me in college,” said Avalos, who graduated from Pleasant Valley High School in 2018. “I had aspirations of playing (NCAA) Division I or Division II — but I quickly figured out it wasn't likely to happen.”
The events and circumstances that followed resulted in Avalos attending Chico State and earning a degree in Construction Management — a discipline he loves. He loves it so much, in fact, he's headed to Denver early next week, after receiving his diploma here, to work full-time for the summer as a construction engineer.
Baseball at the junior college level provided a higher level of competition than high school, but for Avalos, the excitement of playing the game evaporated.
Avalos was a redshirt — meaning he'd sit out a year without losing a year of eligibility — but during that time he realized baseball wouldn't be his path to success.
Avalos enrolled at Butte College and started studying biology, but didn't feel the connection with this subject. He switched to engineering because others in his family had been involved with the field. “I thought construction would be kind of cool,” Avalos recalled.
Then, of course, COVID's tentacles found their way into everyday life, including for Avalos; he transferred to Chico State and studied engineering there. Again, he was disillusioned with the course of study.
“My biggest struggle was trying to figure out what I wanted to study,” he said.
However, a friend Avalos had made while playing baseball encouraged him to try Construction Management as a major; Avalos met Chris Souder, who was the department chair at the time. That was the metaphorical “tipping point” — because Avalos was thrilled with what he discovered.
Really, Avalos said, the “seed” for working in construction began when he was 16 — but he didn't realize it at the time.
“It would go back to when I was 16, working for a family friend” — to whom Avalos referred as his “uncle” even though there was no familial relation.
“I was helping him do a remodel on his home, with demolition, the framing and site work. I really got inspired by carpenters who came on,” Avalos said. “They would read plans and understand construction.”
Enrolling in the Chico State program brought immediate results for Avalos.
“As soon as I got into the program, I realized the people were all very like-minded. They were social and the cared for each other,” he explained. “If anyone was struggling in class, we'd help each other out. It was more of a community bond than any other major I've been a part of.”
Aside from academic satisfaction, Avalos has been able to serve the greater community. As a member of the Associated General Contractors, Avalos and his peers wanted to complete a community service project. The group decided to build canopies for the storage areas at the Torres Shelter, at 101 Silver Dollar Way in south Chico; the facility provides shelter for the homeless population.
“It was a very wide-open area and they need the space and shading,” Avalos said.
Avalos and his group attended pre-construction meetings with Slater and Son, a Chico-based general contractor company, and coordinated with the Torres Shelter leadership.
“Homeless people typically have dogs and sometimes cats, but (the) facility doesn’t allow animals with them. They end up leaving because there’s nowhere for them to keep their animals,” Avalos said. “We wanted to build a dog kennel” to alleviate this problem.
Avalos and his peers met with RGA — Russell Gallaway Associates, a Chicobased architecture and engineering firm — to figure out a design for it. A question remained, however: Where would the money come from? There was good news.
“We just found out we were approved for all the funding for the entire project,” Avalos said, explaining that the Torres Shelter received a grant for just such an endeavor.
Avalos is ready for head to Colorado, but he doesn’t know what sort of project he’ll be assigned to coordinate until he gets there, he said.
“I graduate Friday and head out Sunday,” he said. “I’ll be working as project engineer either under a project manager or a superintendent. It will be a project on health care, airport or some sort of commercial building, but I won’t find out until I get there.”
Would Avalos encourage high school students to pursue this same field? Absolutely, he said.
“There’s a growing need for every type of position in the construction industry right now,” Avalos said, adding that he has engaged in high school outreach at Pleasant Valley, Chico and Core Butte charter high school. “I’ve been able to go full-circle,” he said.
“Some of these kids want to be hands-on. They can make good money in the construction industry.”
Avalos has presented informational talks to PV’s welding class under teacher Matt Joyner, as well as to an architecture class under Scott Farquhar at Chico High School. He also spoke to students at a home room at Core Butte.
“The conversation was more tailored toward Chico State’s Construction Management program,” Avalos said, but added there are other opportunities in the industry. To that end, Avalos has appeared at “trades days” in Chico and Sacramento, talking to high school students considering work in construction trades (skilled work).
Avalos said all of his success, and his enthusiasm for the future, are based in Chico.
“Everything I’ve been able to do, it’s thanks to the Construction Management faculty” at Chico State, he said.