Major: Paralegal
Grad year: 1999
Campus attended: Chicago
After graduating high school, María Arevalo began attending a four-year college with the intention of entering law school. But, after nearly two years, she felt like she wasn’t getting enough exposure to a legal career. "I visited Northwestern Business College, looked at the Paralegal curriculum, and that was the career direction I wanted." According to María, "Just like that I got first-hand experience in the legal field; not waste time at a university."
She initially worked part time while attending school, but, during her second year, she was given a business card by the Paralegal Department Head for an agency that placed paralegals in jobs. "I made the phone call, got the interview, and was offered a job," recalls María. What started as a part-time position evolved into almost full time and, having graduated in 1999, is where her career continues today. Meanwhile, she is attending Loyola toward her Bachelor’s Degree and plans to enter law school after that.
María’s education has already given here the ability to do what she wants to most. "There are many things that I like about the legal field but one of those is feeling like I could help people," she explains. "There are just so many things that people that don’t know but need to know. Just because you don’t know the law, that’s not an excuse. I don’t think it’s fair but it’s life.
What she hopes to achieve eventually is becoming a tutor or a volunteer for students. "I’d like to teach them a different way of learning the same way NBC teachers offered me a way to learn, and how they showed how they cared, how they were attentive."
Major: Business Administration with Management emphasis
Grad year: 2002
Campus attended: Chicago
There were three main reasons Yessenia Cruz decided to come to Northwestern Business College. First was the convenient location, second was the flexible class schedules that fit her work schedule, and third was that she could avoid taking all the general education classes that a university would require. Once she got here, though, she discovered what turned out to be probably the most important reason of all.
"The classes were small," she says. "I like to have a lot of attention. At NBC you’re known as a person, Yessenia Cruz, not as a number as opposed at a university. You get great teachers and great students, great classmates."
Yessina plans to use her Business Management degree to help fulfill a lifelong dream. "I’ve always wanted to be in the business field, and the reason I took the management part of it is because I do want to own my business. I’m currently working for an accounting firm but on the side part-time I am also selling Avon. I’m working on that because I do want to open my own store in the future."
Major: Business Information Systems
Grad year: 1999
Campus attended: Chicago
Jerome Daguil was working as the banquet manager for a downtown Chicago hotel, but felt that something was missing. "It was good money," he says, "but it was dead end." So, because he always had a strong interest in computers, he decided to join several friends who were attending Northwestern Business College. In even less time than he expected, Jerome had his degree in Computer Information Systems, and now works in the IT department of a nonprofit financial services organization.
The flexible schedule at NBC made a huge difference with his being able to continue to work full time while he went to school. He explains, "For one quarter, I could switch which classes I could take because the nature of my job at the hotel was working either early in the morning or late at night. Some quarters I would take some morning classes. Other quarters I would take just night classes."
Jerome finds great reward in his ability to help people in his current career, and contrasts it to a "job." "With a ‘job,’" he says, "you get paid for pretty much just showing up. A ‘career’ is something that you want to be there. Now I actually look forward to going to work and helping people, you know, and that’ll help me in the long term when I further my career down the line as well."
Major: Business Administration
Grad year: 2003
Campus attended: Hickory Hills
Enrolling in college after working for the same company for about 30 years, Patricia Gajewski is not your typical Northwestern Business College graduate. After being promoted to a supervisory position in 1995, she realized not having a college degree put her in an awkward position with the employees she supervised. She states, "I thought it was important to get a degree to get my employees to realize that education is important, and, if I could do it, just about anyone could do it. But I couldn’t really tell them that without having a degree myself."
Her initial experience in the NBC Business Administration was, as she puts it, "Scary. I was very nervous at coming to Northwestern. But what helped is that the class size was very small." Patricia continues: "At my age, when I walked in I were terrified because most of these kids had just gotten out of school. But the instructors, the other students, they relaxed me."
A lot of times the instructors would use her for real-life work experience. She says simply, "I was working. I was there." And so are the instructors. Most of them work or have their own business full time. Patricia speaks highly of her instructors, and attributes this to the fact that, "Most of them don’t need it financially; they just enjoy teaching."
Having received her degree in 2003, Patricia sees many new opportunities available to her to advance in the company and her career. But she also cites substantial immediate advantages to her college degree. "You’re able to go out and speak differently; have more confidence in what you’re talking about. You can interact with higher levels of the company on their level. More people listen to you."
Major: Business Administration
Grad year: 1989
Campus attended: Chicago
Some people just aren’t good at taking tests. One of them is Chris Haywood. He remembers, "After high school I was very undecided and, really, was very nervous about standardized tests (ACT/SAT) required by four-year universities. I’m not good at standardized tests. So I thought, ‘Why don’t I just apply to a small school and work my way up?’"
After being "accepted with open arms," as Chris describes it, by Northwestern Business College, work his way up he did. In two years Chris completed his degree in Business Administration, in 1989, and continued on to earn his Bachelor’s Degree in the same field. But after that, having gone to school full time—while also working full time for about seven years in several different business-related job—Chris decided, "The business world is not for me. It’s cut-throat."
So his next step was going for his master’s degree, which he earned in Education and Counseling, and which landed him a position in child welfare. Currently, he is working on his doctoral degree in Psychology, and works as a General Education instructor at the Northwestern Business College Chicago campus.
As you might expect, Chris strongly believes in the value of a good education, and in particular one from Northwestern Business College. He explains, "After you’ve completed the education at Northwestern Business College, you can go on to become a business manager. You can go on to further your education in a Bachelor’s Degree. You can go on to become successful in your career endeavors.
He carries this passion for education into the classroom as an instructor. "The feeling that I receive after I known a person’s changed his or her life, or assisting a person in changing his or her life, it’s chills."
Major: Hospitality Tourism Management
Grad year: 2000
Campus attended: Hickory Hills
Janet Juarez began attending college right after high school, but her initial experience in the world of higher education was not all she had hoped it would be. "I had gone to a community college and I just felt like I was never going to get out of there," she explains. "So I decided to come to somewhere where it was geared to what I wanted."
That somewhere turned out to be Northwestern Business College, and the people are what influenced Janet to make that decision. "The admissions counselor was great," Janet recalls. "She really cared about getting you on the right track. She was awesome and, the instructors, they were great as well."
The fact that Janet speaks so highly of the people at NBC is no coincidence, as Janet is now in the people business—she earned her degree in travel and tourism and hospitality management. "In the hospitality field you do a lot with people. I love people. I’m a people person, so you meet interesting people all the time, plus it’s business. So, it’s together." Janet now works for the Midway Hotel Center.
Major: Medical Assisting
Grad year: 2002
Campus attended: Chicago
A couple of years ago, Daleisha Owolide left for a trip to western Africa, and returned with a new inspiration and drive. "What really decided that I wanted to go to Northwestern Business College in the medical field," she says, "was my trip to West Africa. When I saw the labor care unit in Senegal it made me realize this is something that I really want to go in to."
Today, Daleisha has her associate degree in Medical Assisting, and is now a pre-med student at Loyola University. "What really kept me focused on coming to school was the fact that I wanted a change," she continues. "I wanted not only the title of ‘housewife.’ I didn’t want to be labeled as Mr. So-and-so’s wife or So-and-so’s mother. I wanted my own identity."
Of her experience at NBC, Daleisha speaks very highly. "It’s a close facility and it’s a one-on-one basis with the instructors and all of the staff. Everyone knows you by name. The instructors really do care, and when you want to speak with them outside of office hours, they are there to assist you and encourage you to come to class. If I was late for class they’d call me. They’d say, ‘Okay, you’re not on time. What’s going on?’ They really want you to be successful. I can’t express it more."
Major: Business Administration
Grad year: 2003
Campus attended: Chicago
Working full time during the day as a loan officer, and as a hair dresser in the evenings, Garsalia Tsatralis doesn’t spend time on things she doesn’t consider important. That’s a main reason she chose to attend Northwestern Business College. She says, "I wanted to go somewhere that I didn’t have to take a lot of classes in between, such as psychology and just random classes that you don’t need. I wanted to focus more on my major."
While students who work really appreciate NBC’s flexible schedules, Garsalia (who goes by the name of Litza) was able to take that a step further. "Northwestern Business College made it great because it offered an independent study which, if I couldn’t come every time they offered the class, I could take it independently with the teacher or the professor if they allowed it. So, I could take two of classes on the side, which was great.
Today, her degree in Business administration has made a big difference at work. She says, "The long-term effect helped me greatly, especially my job because the business classes helped me with my job. The classes also have helped me market my own business."
Major: Business Administration
Grad year: 2003
Campus attended: Hickory Hills
Zachary Uidl is passionate about acting. But he is equally passionate about learning. These two passions have come together in the form of a degree in Business Administration with Finance and Investment emphasis from Northwestern Business College.
Says Zachary, "I wanted to expand my knowledge in areas such as anywhere from contracts to accounting, from marketing all the way to business composition to give me a general overall feeling of how the business world really works." Zachary speaks highly of NBC’s instructors. He continues, "They want to make sure you know exactly what you need to know in order to get through in to go after your passion, to go after your career. They really make a point of that."
While, as an actor, Zachary is no stranger to the stage, one particular stage appearance has made a profound impact on him. "Graduation is an overwhelming feeling," he recalls fondly. "You’ve worked so hard to get to where you’re at and finally you get to walk across the stage and to receive the diploma. I mean, it’s a day that anyone waits for."
