Where Are They Now?
Cassi Alexander has always been a hard worker. From finishing school while raising a child to managing the risk and safety department at a group of construction companies at her current job, Alexander’s can-do attitude has helped her go far.
During her freshman year at Dublin High School, Alexander discovered she was going to have a baby. As she was trying to figure out how to balance the demands of school with motherhood, Alexander found a program through Party Place Childcare and Paradigm Accelerated Charter School that offered an opportunity she couldn’t refuse.
“You worked at the daycare to pay for your childcare, and then they watched your child while you went to school at Paradigm,” she said. “It was a really cool program that allowed a lot of teen moms to be able to complete high school.”
In fact, Alexander was even able to graduate a year early, as the valedictorian of the class of 2002. After her graduation, Alexander went on to Aladdin Cosmetology School in Fort Worth, and when she graduated she returned to Stephenville to work at Fenwick’s Salon.
Alexander enjoyed living in the Dublin area, and was active in youth sports, often taking her daughter Mackenzie and her stepson Jeremiah to practices or cheering them on at games.
Keeping her clientele at the salon was sometimes difficult in the college town, since people moved in and out as they started and finished school, so in 2010, Alexander took a job as an office manager at F&F floor superstore and continued to do hair on the side. She worked there for nearly two years, until two tragedies struck her family.
In 2012, her step-father was working in Florida rebuilding after hurricane Isaac, and contracted MRSA from the floodwaters. He passed away within five days. Later that year, her father took his own life.
Alexander’s mother lived in the Houston area, and Alexander and her daughter Mackenzie decided to move in with her to provide support during the time of grieving. “We ended up never returning to Dublin,” Alexander said. “I still have my homestead there on three acres between Dublin and Stephenville, and I rent it out to a wonderful family.”
Once she was settled in The Woodlands outside of Houston, Alexander began looking for a job. She found one at Mogas Industries Inc, a company where her mother has been a valued employee for over 20 years now. Mogas manufactures severe service ball valves for power plants, chemical processes and oil and gas and mining industries.
She stayed with the company for seven years, working on the sales and operations team for the company’s cleanroom, which specialized in cleaning products that would be used in oxygenrich environments. The cleanroom cleaned products for chemical companies in Houston, and even for NASA.
She also worked in the service department for the valve side of the company, providing customer service for valves that needed to come in for repair and refurbishment and getting them back up and running.
While working at Mogas, Alexander met her nowhusband, Ruann Verster. Verster, who is from South Africa. He and his family had moved to the US and Ruann and his father also worked for Mogas.
After seven years at Mogas, Alexander had an unexpected opportunity to work for a startup now called Spartan Group. “I started in 2019, and I was employee number six,” she said.
The company initially specialized in reinforcing materials and installation, such as rebar, post tension, and wire mesh. After only a few years in business, the company has grown to provide more services, including concrete, material distribution, fabrication and engineering. Alexander started out working in accounting, but later took on more responsibility in the risk and safety department . “I now serve as the vice president of safety and risk management for the group of companies,” she said. “We currently have a safety team of eight employees.”
Spartan Group has offices in Houston, Austin, Dallas, Denver and Phoenix, and job sites spread throughout several states. Alexander travels to the different offices and sites, works with field crews, conducts training inspections and makes sure the company is in compliance with national regulations. “I enjoy being boots on the ground with the field guys,” she said. “I really like advocating for them and feeling like part of the team.”
Alexander is also able to advocate for an issue close to her heart. “One of the things that I am really glad to be getting to do at Spartan in the risk and safety role is being able to honor my dads life and advocate for mental health and suicide prevention and awareness,”Alexander said.
In the future, she hopes to stay with Spartan’s leadership team. “I hope to continue to to be a voice for the field and in the suicide prevention and mental health space and continue to get better everyday.”
When she has free time, Alexander enjoys spending it with her family. “Just last week we went on a trip to see my in-laws in Utah, where we went skiing,” she said. “We love traveling. We live on Lake Conroe in Montgomery, Texas, so we spend a lot of time out by the lake.”
Alexander has two daughters, Mackenzie, 22, and Camdyn, 4. Camdyn is named after Camden Street in Dublin. “My great grandmother, Carmen Fox, was the matriarch of our family and she lived on Camden Street,” Alexander said. “I wanted a family name so I decided to go with Camdyn after the house on Camden Street, which was the house that built me.”
Throughout her life, Alexander has drawn inspiration from the advice of her mother and father. “My parents showed me that if you want something you have to work hard, and that anything is attainable,” she said. “A lot of my inspiration comes from both of my parents’ grit.”
Her parents’ advice, as well as the support of her community, helped her through challenges in her life, such as being a mother at a young age. “Being a teen mom was definitely a challenge,” she said. “The town of Dublin just wrapped their arms around me and other teen moms and were able to give us the resources to push through and to graduate high school as a stepping stone. If I hadn’t graduated, there’s no telling where the trail would have gone from there.”
Alexander’s advice to Dublin graduates is to keep an open mind and work hard. “Anything is possible, and hard work and determination pay off,” she said.
Editor’s Note: This column chronicles what Dublin graduates have done since high school. If you have any suggestions for other grads, email publisher@ dublincitizen. com.