In 2001, Van Zant was employed in the information technology (IT) industry. IT, at that time, was one of “a few remaining professional fields where work experience was acceptable” in lieu of a college degree, Van Zant said. But, he could tell the industry’s job requirement expectations were shifting in a manner that put more emphasis on formal education.

Van Zant opted to return to the classroom to ensure that his skills and qualifications could sustain his career in the future. When it came time to pick a program, he had two choices.

Van Zant said he considered going back to school for industry certifications offered by a technology company such as Microsoft. As a non-traditional student, he believed the certification process would be an adequate option for him, but he would be required to attain a new certificate each time new technology was issued. “It’s like having to take a driver’s test whenever a new car is released,” Van Zant explained. “That’s why I was disenchanted with the certification process. I just didn’t want to pursue certifications forever.”

Instead, Van Zant found that his second option—an undergraduate degree at a traditional college or university—would better suit his needs and fulfill his personal desire for a challenging college experience. Van Zant applied to Augsburg College’s business administration: management information systems program through the Weekend and Evening College. He said initially the College’s information systems program caught his eye, as did the maroon Augsburg College sign he passed during his workday commutes through the heart of Minneapolis.

Van Zant continued working full time while he pursued his Augsburg education in the adult undergraduate program, and he graduated in 2006. Immediately following his bachelor’s degree completion, Van Zant enrolled in Augsburg’s master of business administration program.

“I felt capable of doing more—driven to do more,” Van Zant recalled. “I was already in ‘school shape;’ I was encouraged by my professors; I had mastered the balance of school and work; and I was anxious to take my education a step farther.”

The steps Van Zant took allowed him to gain more responsibility in his career and expand his role from one with a narrow focus to one that is broader and more challenging, he said. “I’ve been with my current employer for almost six years, and I’m amazed that I keep reaching back into the ‘toolbox’ for the skills I learned in college,” he continued.

Since 2008, Van Zant has shared insights from his work experience and his post-secondary education with new Auggies as an adjunct instructor in Augsburg’s business department. “I’m thrilled to teach because it keeps me involved in the Augsburg community,” Van Zant said. He teaches adult undergraduate students, and he shares his own success story with his students. “Going back to school was a strategic decision: I wanted to round out my portfolio,” Van Zant said. “Now I know it’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve done.”

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Jennifer Weber ’11 for nearly 10 years worked as an Indian education advisor in the Anoka-Hennepin School District and took high school students on more college tours than she could count. While her job was to encourage her students to obtain bachelor’s degrees, she awaited the opportunity when she, too, could become a college student.

That’s why Weber accepted a layoff intended to downsize her employer’s Indian education department. In return, she received financial assistance from a dislocated worker program that would allow her to attend Augsburg’s adult undergraduate program. Weber called the Augsburg American Indian Student Services office upon taking the layoff and within two days was registered for classes.

“There was no looking back once I set my mind to it,” Weber said. “I thought, ‘If I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it completely.’ I was a 16-year-old mom, and I watched all of my friends go off to college. I wanted to say that I still had that experience; I just had it at a different time.”

Weber declared a triple major in emotional/behavioral disabilities, learning disabilities, and American Indian studies, and she participated in an Augsburg Abroad trip to Chiapas, Mexico. She anticipated that her study-abroad experience would change her perspectives on education and American Indian studies by introducing her to a new culture, but she found she was most engaged by discussions surrounding water contamination and the unequal distribution of water resources to native peoples. “An elder asked us, ‘Now that you’ve been here and you’ve seen our communities, are you going to go home and forget about us? Or, are you going to go home and do something?’”

Weber felt called to raise water conservation awareness and later learned of the Mother Earth Water Walk through an event held at Augsburg College. The water walk was established by Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) who regard themselves as the caretakers of the Great Lakes. The walk called attention to the need to conserve water as the source of all life. “I left the event that night and everything made sense to me,” Weber said. “This was my chance to do something.”

During the water walk, Anishinaabe grandmothers, women, men, and youth from Canada and the United States carried water to Bad River, Wis., from the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Hudson Bay. Weber coordinated the southern direction water walk. She found lodging for participants, acquired donations, and joined walkers on their journeys—all the while finishing her coursework at Augsburg in preparation for graduation.

Today Weber continues to raise water conservation awareness, and she, with Native educators from across Minnesota, is writing a curriculum that will accompany a Mississippi River water walk slated to begin during March 2013. The curriculum will be made accessible online to any school or organization working with youth. “If you want to make an effective change, you must start with children,” Weber said.

Since her Augsburg graduation, Weber has resumed her meaningful vocation working with Twin Cities youths. She now serves Cedar-Riverside Community School as a behavior specialist, K-8 special education teacher, and athletic director.

By working in the Augsburg neighborhood, Weber serves her alma mater in a unique way. She is in the midst of a collaborative project with Augsburg education department faculty members Elizabeth Madson Ankeny and Dee Vodicka to create hands-on learning opportunities for students in Augsburg’s weekend and evening program. The students learn about positive behavioral interventions through an on-site classroom experience at the Cedar-Riverside Community School. Research on the collaborative project’s success in teaching Augsburg students has been overwhelmingly positive, according to Weber.

Ankeny, Vodicka, and Weber presented observations from the collaboration at the Teacher Education Division for the Council for Exceptional Children national conference in November in Grand Rapids, Mich. Their presentation was titled, “A Walk from Campus to a Neighborhood School: Preservice Teachers’ Experiences in a Partner School.”

It seems Weber’s educational journey with Augsburg College will continue to fork—like a river—at each new opportunity.

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“I was missing something,” Hartz said. “I knew that I had excelled in my career, but I wanted to go through the classroom experience. I wanted to meet fellow students, take exams, write papers, and do everything else students do. There was a hole in my life, and I knew I could fill it by going back to school and getting my degree.”

Hartz declared a major in communication studies because she believed sharpening her organizational communication skills would positively impact her vocation.

For more than 20 years, Hartz has worked as a church administrator—a role, she said, she fell into by “happenstance.” While in her mid-30s, Hartz switched from a career in banking and finance to one where she could serve her church congregation. Her professional career since has led her to work for multiple suburban churches in the Twin Cities metro area, and in 2009 she became the director of operations at Minneapolis’ Plymouth Congregational Church.

“I love the challenge of being in an urban setting and having the pulse of city life around me,” Hartz said. “I experience all that’s going on in the neighborhood and in the community.”

As with all of her previous church administration roles, her position at Plymouth Congregational Church requires quick thinking and a “ready-for-anything” attitude. Hartz oversees approximately 20 employees on the church’s support staff team, and each of her workdays is unique. “I never know exactly what is going to come up,” she explained. “I could have a tree fall down, or a plumbing leak, or an HR problem, or maybe an issue with donor giving.

“I believe that in order to work as a church administrator, as with any ministry position, you need to be called to serve because it can be tough, tough, tough work,” she added.

Hartz dedicates more than 40 hours a week to her job, and she juggles numerous volunteer and family commitments that require much of her time. She said that Augsburg’s adult undergraduate program accommodated her schedule as a working adult and supported her educational ambitions.

“I went to school thinking that the professors were going to be very strict,” Hartz recalled. But, she soon realized that the first priority of faculty members and academic advisers was to help her succeed at the College. “The people at Augsburg respect adult students and understand that we all have very busy lives with families and jobs,” Hartz said.

Hartz wanted to live the college experience firsthand, but she also wanted to finish her degree by the time she turned 50 so that she could move on to new life goals.

And she did it—with a month to spare.

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