Growing up, Carolyn Clayton (’01) only had one home, one phone number and one address. Since graduating from Messiah, she has worked at eight different campuses and lived in five different states. Over the years, Clayton has bought, renovated, and sold a lot of houses. She has had to join and leave churches, built relationships and then continue them online. These experiences have given her more empathy towards new coworkers because she understands what it’s like “starting over” in a new location.
Clayton currently works at Radford University as the Director of Annual Giving in Radford, Virginia. She leads a team and works with other partners from the Advancement and University Relations division to tell the story of the university and invite alumni, employees, families and community friends to make an annual gift. Clayton loves the opportunity she has to pursue her passion for storytelling while building relationships with donors and families. She has also spent time at Grand Valley State University, Hope College, Asbury Theological Seminary, Clemson University and Virginia Tech working in admissions or advancement.
During her time at Messiah, Clayton held positions that gave her the experiences she needed to succeed in her career. She worked as a student caller, an admissions tour guide and as an apartment life coordinator in residence life. She also worked on the senior gift campaign. She saw a lot of connections between the skills she learned in these jobs and the material she learned in class, and in particular, her student caller and senior gift campaign experiences helped fuel her passion for higher-ed giving.
Clayton encourages students at Messiah to dive in, explore, and try new things. “Don’t sell God short, pray big prayers and take bold steps,” she says. “The community will catch you when you fall and cheer when you succeed.” She says she regrets not getting involved in any Choral ensembles or theater shows in college because of her fears at the time. She missed the camaraderie of these communities that she experienced in high school.
Clayton appreciates the mentorship of Messiah employees that fostered her growth and gave her opportunities. Particularly, she mentioned Dr. McCown, who supported her throughout Clayton’s college career. At the time, Dr. McCown taught classes at Messiah while diving back and forth to Maryland for her doctoral classes. Clayton admires her tenacity and commitment. Also, she fondly recalls Paul Morgan, who passed away recently, gave Clayton her first job at Messiah. He gave her a lot of opportunities that she did not fully appreciate at the time. His “quiet but kind” leadership style inspired her.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, like many people, Clayton has had to work from home, juggling work and helping her daughter with schoolwork. Her family also adopted a dog named Banjo, and spends time hiking and exploring together—one great outcome of a challenging time. She credits her many career transitions with helping her persevere through it all.
-Audrey Kuhns ‘21