People like Hannah Ford are the future of roofing

By Emma Peterson. 

The Third Estimate’s BuildHERS Scholarship empowers young folks, like The Coffee Shops’ own Hannah Ford, to build their careers. 

Last year The Third Estimate, a roofing company based in Northeast Ohio, introduced their BuildHERS Scholarship. The goal of this scholarship is to “empower young women to pursue careers in it for the construction industry to grow.” Open to students around the nation that are “in good academic standing at an accredited high school, trade school or college,” there were two scholarships given out in 2024 and they were able to raise an additional $1,000 to offer three scholarships this year.  

Here at The Coffee Shops, we are not only thrilled to see how The Third Estimate is supporting the future of roofing, but we are also incredibly proud to share that our R-Club intern, Hannah Ford, is one of the recipients of the scholarship this year! To learn more about the scholarship and Hannah’s future goals in the roofing industry, we sat down for a quick interview with her. Hannah’s first step on the path towards this scholarship was seeing a post about it on RoofersCoffeeShop.com. She explained, “I actually saw it on the RoofersCoffeeShop scholarship webpage. And so I applied for it.” 

For her application, Hannah had to submit her proof of enrollment, answer some questions, send in a letter of recommendation (which she got from Coffee Shops Marketing Manager Alex Tolle) and submit a personal statement about her career goals in roofing. Hannah shared a bit about what she wrote, saying, “I have found that the roofing industry embodies the spirit of community. Every day, roofing professionals work to ensure that families and communities are protected from the elements... Throughout my life, I have found myself in male-dominated fields from participating in high school debate to studying business in college. And my goal has been to make a meaningful impact and drive positive change for others like I see roofers doing. I want to be one of the women who leads the next generation of people and I can see a future for that in this industry.”  

And the next thing she knew, Hannah was getting a call about receiving the scholarship! From there, The Third Estimate usually connects their awardees with their team in Ohio for a facility tour in person. However, for Hannah who is based on the other side of the country, things went a bit differently. She explained, “I was actually the only person who isn't from Ohio who got the scholarship. They often give it to people in Ohio because that’s where they’re located, but it’s not an eligibility requirement. Since I couldn’t go in person, I met with the CEO (Tara Colopy) online and we just talked for an hour.” Over the course of that hour, Hannah got to talk to Tara about her goals (both school-wise and career-wise) and get what she called invaluable advice from a woman who has walked the path before her.  

If you are or know of a student like Hannah who is working towards a career in the industry, there are a lot of scholarships out there available from companies like The Third Estimate, SOPREMA and WSRCA. You can also check out The Coffee Shops’ scholarship page to see a running list of what scholarships are available!