Student Profiles

Maximillienne Elliott

After Maximillienne Elliott's first try at college at age 18 was unsuccessful, she settled into a career as an administrative assistant. Although she found excitement outside of her job by writing a nonfiction book that sold 20,000 copies and took her on a national tour, she continued to seek her ultimate purpose. She discovered that goal when she met a human rights attorney from Kosovo and, at age 41, she launched her plan to become a human rights lawyer. After graduating from Northwestern in June 2007 with a degree in political science, Elliott will enter DePaul University College of Law on a scholarship.

"Some people spend their entire lives trying to determine their purpose, while others remain in unfulfilling jobs until they retire. I am very grateful that I have, even at this stage, been able to follow my passion and realize my dream."

Scott Lien

As a commodities trader, Minnesotan Scott Lien started young, trading grain and interest rate markets at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange when he was 20. Although he took college courses at Northwestern after he relocated to the Chicago area in 1997 to work on the trading floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, he saw no clear path to finishing his degree. But in 2006 Lien spotted value in SCS's Learning and Organization Behavior program and traded in his old way of life. Lien, 35, now leads an asset management group for a financial advisory firm and lives with his wife and two daughters in a North Shore suburb. He will graduate in 2008.

"There are other accelerated degree programs in the Chicago area, but Northwestern's is the most meaningful. The courses are significantly more rigorous - rather than memorizing information we spend time writing and doing research. We have the freedom to choose research topics that interest us and that we can apply."

Kimberly Eiseman Feld

Kimberly Eiseman Feld started her education on the fast track, graduating from high school just before her 16th birthday. But work and family life interrupted her attempts at higher education: at age 19 she began raising a niece, followed by marriage and more children, all while working at a long administrative career. Although she completed the equivalent of an associate's degree at Northwestern in the 1980s and "plodded along," taking a class or two as possible, her effort felt "arduous and disjointed." Now 50, Feld, who directs a private foundation, has finally found a way to complete her degree through Northwestern's Learning and Organization Behavior program.

"Twenty years ago there were more corporate opportunities for those without a college degree, but I always felt I needed a formal education, if only for core skills as an adult. Today, in almost any competitive work setting, you need a bachelor's degree. Now I look at my education in a more professional way. Several of us are interested in going on to graduate and professional schools."

Marco Guzman

Born in Mexico and raised in Belgium, Marco Guzman immigrated to the United States at age 18 and found it difficult to adapt to a new culture and continue his education at the same time. Instead, he worked in accounting and dreamed of something more. Marco discovered his purpose at Northwestern, where he cultivated his interest in sociology to earn not only a bachelor's degree but also a five-year fellowship to UCLA's top-rated graduate program in sociology.

"When I first started taking classes at Northwestern I just wanted to get away from business and accounting. I thought I'd major in anthropology. Then I took Sociology of War and Revolutions. That made me change my major and pretty much my whole life, because it transformed the expectations I had for myself. I fell in love with school."

Alma Gaytan

Alma Gaytan, 36, says she did things backwards: she started a family before graduating from high school and worked her way up the corporate ladder at HSBC, a large global bank, without a college degree, even though obtaining a management position required seven interviews. But when Gaytan discovered SCS's degree completion program in Leadership and Organization Behavior, she found a way to have it all: a Northwestern degree, which she will finish in 2009; a rich family life with her husband and three daughters, ages 18, 17, and 11; and a new job with El Popocatepetl, a tortilla business in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood that makes use of her management skills as well as her fluency in Spanish.

"I've faced challenges at SCS - it wouldn't be Northwestern without challenges. Going back to school has helped develop me into the person I am. I tell my daughters, 'If there's a will, there's a way. Nothing is just given to you; you have to work for it.' They're very proud of me and tell their friends about what I've accomplished."

Hugo Aguilera

Hugo Aguilera was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, and moved with his family to Aurora, Illinois, when he was 14. After he landed a job as an administrative assistant at SCS in September 2005, he realized that SCS was not only a great place to work but also the perfect place to further his education. He plans to graduate in 2008 with a major in communication studies and a minor in business.

"Enrolling at SCS was a great decision. My courses are challenging, interesting and practical. I'm getting an excellent education."

Mark Dalgaard

Taking the easy path is not in Mark Dalgaard's nature. As a young man he worked the swing shift in a box factory and mornings as a groundskeeper at a golf course. Preferring outdoor work, he found a job installing gutters and scraped together money to buy the business. By working 100-hour weeks and crafting custom copper gutters, he grew the business from a one-man, one-truck operation to 11 employees. At age 38 he began running marathons and then ultramarathons. After his beloved wife died in 1990, he single-handedly raised their three children, all of whom are now in college, as is Dalgaard. A lifelong learner, Dalgaard began attending SCS classes in 2006; he plans to declare a major in environmental science.

"I'm so impressed with the caring of the Northwestern faculty. My first class was composition, and the instructor, Michelle Greenberg, took me under her wing. I learned to critique and to be critiqued. I've always known I was a writer, but to have a teacher tell you you're a writer - that builds confidence."