At Azusa Pacific University’s commencement ceremonies on May 5, 2007, several students from the Center for Adult and Professional Studies (CAPS) walked across the stage to receive their master’s degrees in Leadership and Organizational Studies (MLOS). These graduates from the CAPS MLOS program represent a wide variety of vocational and educational backgrounds. All have faced their own unique challenges and struggles during the past two years, and many have successfully balanced careers, families, and social lives with scholarly pursuits in order to achieve the common goal of an advanced degree. Two stories of success that were among the others that day are those of Deborah St. George and Antonio Romero.
Deborah St. George’s experience with CAPS began in 2004 when she enrolled in the program to get her bachelor’s degree in Organizational Leadership (BSOL). Like many CAPS students, St. George had begun studying for a bachelor’s degree at another university earlier in life but had not completed it due to other obligations. Several years later, in the midst of a successful and demanding career as the deputy city treasurer for the City of Glendora, St. George had decided to go back to college to finish what she had started. “I wanted to be a role model for my grandchildren,” said St. George. “I wanted them to know how important it is to go to college.” She heard about the educational opportunities available for professionals at APU and, as she put it, “The CAPS program was tailored to working adults and perfect for someone with a family.”
After graduating Magna Cum Laude with her bachelor’s degree in 2005, and being nominated “Outstanding Degree Completion Student” by her peers in the program, St. George decided to go on and get her master’s degree in Organizational and Leadership Studies through CAPS as well. In September of 2005, she began taking classes once again, this time with her sights set on a master’s degree, a goal which she has now achieved.
The road to this success, however, was not always smooth, and there were times when St. George had to focus solely on whatever task happened to be at hand in order to stay on top of a hectic schedule that included academics, advanced licensing for her career as a deputy treasurer, and a full family life. “You take it one day at a day a time,” St. George said, “if you look to far ahead then you get freaked out.”
One thing that helped St. George get through such times was the camaraderie that comes as a result of the CAPS cohort system. The MLOS program is designed so that students stay with the same group, or cohort, throughout the completion of their degrees. This creates a shared learning experience in which students often become both mentors and friends to one another. As St. George said, “Support and closeness develops quickly. You are with people from all different professions but you all have one goal and you end up learning from each other almost as much as you do from the classes.”
Looking back on her journey towards a master’s degree, St George said, “I feel like I was on a path that God put me on throughout both programs. I have become a more well-rounded, confident individual.”
Antonio Romero, who also received his MLOS degree this spring, was a member of the same cohort as St. George. His experience with the CAPS program began with a desire to reach personal career goals. As senior manager of employee relations at Universal Forest Products, an international Fortune 1000 company, he wanted to equip himself to make it to the next level. “If I wanted to reach my long term goals, I knew I needed a master’s [degree],” said Romero. After moving to the United States from Mexico City at the age of fourteen, Antonio graduated from high school and worked his way through college at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, earning a bachelor’s degree in communications in 1997. When he began looking for a place to study for his master’s, Romero was hoping to find a program that was both Christ-centered and student-oriented. “I wanted to be a part of a master’s program, not a number in a master’s program,” he said. Ultimately, he decided that the unique setup of the CAPS program fit this criteria, and began his MLOS work in 2005.
Romero’s position as senior manager of employee relations in a company employing over 10,000 in Mexico, Canada, the United States, and Chile requires him to be traveling nearly 80 percent of the time. As a result, during his MLOS studies, he was constantly having to ask the question, “How am I going to meet class requirements when I am on-the-road?” The answer often meant working with professors to find out-of-the-box solutions. For example, when an important business trip to New York conflicted with a class presentation that was due the same day, Romero was able to circumvent the problem by giving the presentation via webcam from his hotel room at midnight. “According to my classmates, I came through loud and clear,” he mused.
Also integral to Romero’s success, was CAPS’ emphasis on experiential learning. The MLOS Program in particular is meant to incorporate and build on the professional experiences of the students rather than having them start from scratch. In turn, concepts students learn in the classroom can be evaluated and applied in the workplace. Romero remarked that he would often hear his professors reference first-hand knowledge of their subjects, saying things like, “This is what I lived, this is what I experienced.” Such real life grounding allowed Romero to bridge the gap between his academic and professional careers.
Now looking back, Romero, much like St. George, sees his journey towards an advanced degree through CAPS as a positive and life-changing experience. “I want to be a leader,” said Romero. “The MLOS program has given me some of the instruments I need in order to do that.”
APU’s academic essence statement reads at one point, “We are scholars who encourage and make provision for any person to learn at any period of life.” It seems from the stories of MLOS graduates such as Antonio Romero and Deborah St. George that this purpose is alive and well at the Center for Adult and Professional Studies.
