CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Amber Benton doesn’t have much time left here in the classroom.

On Saturday, she’ll officially get her bachelors of fine arts in ceramics from UNC Charlotte.

“I started out as a civil engineering major in 1994,” she said.

What You Need To Know

Amber Benton was the first student from Graham County to enroll at UNC Charlotte back in 1994

After leaving school twice, she came back in 2020 and Saturday is graduating with her BFA in ceramics 

Benton's professors nominated her to be this year's commencement speaker

Twenty-seven years ago, Benton was the first student from Graham County to enroll at UNC Charlotte to originally get an engineering degree. 

“I knew it was a risk to go from engineering,” she said. “(It’s) what you consider to be stable income, and a highly desired job with a technical skill to come into an arts program.”

Benton came to UNC Charlotte as a Fretwell Scholar, one of the school’s most prestigious and competitive full-ride scholarships.

But by her sophomore year, she switched majors and soon fell in love with a fellow student, who turned into her husband.

“We got married while we were still in school and he wound up getting a job in the Research Triangle area,” Benton said. 

So Benton moved, had a son and, after a while, gave school another go. 

“I did return and tried to finish because he was older,” she said. “He was 4, getting ready to start school, so I thought it would be a good time to finish, but then son number two came along.” 

Two boys turned into six, and after spending time with her sons, she decided to go back to school for a third try. 

“When I first came back here in 2020, I hadn’t touched clay in 20 years,” Benton said. 

Now three decades later, Benton is not only graduating but also plans to give this year’s commencement speech. 

“One of the main topics I’ll be talking about is the rural and urban divide,” she said. “It’s a topic that is really important not only to our nation but it’s important to me from the experience that I’ve had with my family.” 

Benton’s journey to getting this degree might have taken longer than expected, but she’s glad to have gotten here and is happy to share this experience with her sons.

“I really wanted my boys to be able to see that and have that experience of watching me finish,” she said. 

Benton says her mother had a similar journey. She was the first in her family to attend college and graduated when Benton was a teenager. 

She says after graduation she plans to continue creating work that addresses the rural-urban divide.