Evening/Weekend Alumni Spotlight
Christine Paternoster
Current Position: Director of HR and Administrative Services
Major/Degree: Bachelor of Arts, Organizational Leadership, May 2007
What were you doing before you became a student at B-W? I was busy raising a family and working full-time. Getting my degree was often put on hold. I attended Tri-C on an ongoing basis for several years. Then family circumstances changed dramatically and I found myself as a full-time caregiver for my husband, working full time, and taking care of my children. School had to be put on hold again.
In 2001, I faced a new time in my life and decided I owed it to myself to finish my degree. I have had a good job with the County, but could not move upward anymore without a degree. I also was worried that I needed to remain competitive just in case I had to make a career move.
What has been the outcome of your experience at B-W? I’m proud to say that a few months after graduation I was promoted to Director of HR and Administrative Services and received a10% pay increase! It just goes to show that even at my age (57) my degree paid off!
What was the most important thing you learned while attending B-W? We are never too old to learn. Even with my life experiences, B-W classes in ethics and sociology forced me to look at the world from a different perspective. I think we all have a tendency to become judgmental and cynical as we get older, and B-W has helped me out of that way of thinking.
What advice would you give to current or prospective students? Finish your degree no matter how old you are. Education is never wasted. Hang in there and you will get through it. I would tell students to not take the more difficult classes first (even though an advisor may think differently). If I took the harder classes first, I think I might have given up. Taking them at the end forced me to continue since I already had so much invested.
