Mandolyn Newell has never been afraid to chart her own path. A 2019 graduate of the Delaware Area Career Center’s Power Sports & Diesel Technology program and Centerburg High School, she’s built a career that has taken her from the manufacturing floor to the front of classrooms across Ohio, and she’s just getting started.
After graduating from DACC, Mandolyn spent four years as a CNC machinist making gas compressors, a role that put her technical training to immediate use. During that time, she was also investing in herself academically, paying cash for her college education. She is now completing a Master of Public Administration, a credential that reflects both her ambition and her commitment to purposeful work.
Today, Mandolyn serves as the Education & Workforce Programs Associate at the Ohio Natural Energy Institute (ONEi), a nonprofit dedicated to energy education throughout the state. In that role, she introduces students to more than 75 career opportunities in the oil and gas industry while equipping teachers with hands-on curriculum and professional workshops. To date, she and her team have reached more than 55,600 individuals, a testament to both the scale of her work and the urgency of connecting students to careers in energy.
Her leadership extends well beyond ONEi. Mandolyn now serves as Vice President of the Women’s Energy Network Ohio, where she chairs a student programs global task force, amplifying mentorship and leadership opportunities for women and students across the industry. She is also a proud member of the Young Leaders of Licking County, where she serves on the philanthropy, education and workforce development, and scholarship committees, investing what she describes as her talent, time, ties, treasure, and testimony in the next generation.
Outside of her professional and civic work, Mandolyn is raising her daughter and volunteers as a scuba diver at the Columbus Zoo’s Discovery Reef.
Mandolyn credits DACC with giving her far more than technical knowledge. Through the Power Sports & Diesel Tech program, as well as Introduction to Welding Processes and Advanced Welding Processes, she developed a deep respect for precision, safety, and creative problem-solving, skills she carried into manufacturing and now applies every day in the nonprofit education world.
“DACC gave me the technical foundation, confidence, and work ethic that I still lean on today,” she shared. “DACC also showed me the importance of mentorship and opened the door to an industry that I’ve been proud to grow in.”
That connection between classroom learning and real-world application is at the heart of what Mandolyn now brings to her work at ONEi, helping students see, just as DACC helped her see, that career and technical education opens doors you might not have even known existed.
For current DACC students, her advice is straightforward and grounded in experience:
“Take full advantage of every opportunity while you’re at DACC, whether that’s learning from your instructors, joining activities, or building connections with your classmates. Don’t be afraid to try new skills, because you never know where they might lead. The experiences you have now will open doors later, and the effort you put in will pay off in unexpected ways.”
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