Frances Drew graduated from Bristol High School in 1973 with a long-held dream of attending art school. She began her education doing just that by earning an associate of science in fine arts from Northwestern Connecticut Community College (now CT State Northwestern) in 1978, followed by a BFA in painting from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 1981. She later received an MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology in 1994.

But those achievements are only part of her story.

In the early 2000s, Frances returned to school, taking classes at Tunxis and Manchester community college campuses.

After a period of unemployment, Frances enrolled full-time at Middlesex Community College (now CT State Middlesex) in Middletown, studying broadcast communications and computer graphics. She earned a multimedia certificate from Middlesex in 2006 and praised the quality of the instruction and faculty.

However, it didn’t stop there.

“In the fall semester of 2009, I was an adjunct faculty member at Middlesex and taught two Introduction to Computer Graphics courses,” Frances added.

She also completed a non-credit mobile applications certificate from Capital Community College (now CT State Capital) in 2014.

Frances still had more to do.

She began working at General Dynamics Electric Boat in 2018 as a learner draftsman and enrolled in a four-year electrical apprenticeship. The program included coursework at Three Rivers Community College (now CT State Three Rivers) and culminated in 2023 with a certificate in mechanical/electrical manufacturing and a Connecticut state-issued journeyman’s card as an electrical drafter.

Frances is now a marine electrical designer at Electric Boat, working on submarines.

But wait, there’s more!

Frances is also active in the arts, both as a visual artist with work in exhibitions locally and across the U.S., and as the lead singer of Fran Drew and the Lucky Strikes. Their debut CD, Trial by Fire, won Best Self-Produced CD of 2024 from the Connecticut Blues Society. The band is also nominated by Blues Blast magazine for New Artist Debut Album and are finalists in the Unsigned Only Music Awards.

Her path reflects a lifelong commitment to learning, adaptability and creative expression across both the technical and artistic worlds.

“Learn all you can. You never know where it will come in handy,” she said.

August 2025