Jennifer Davis

Purdue University North Central student Jennifer Davis recently earned a scholarship from the Northern Indiana Human Resource Management Association in recognition of her scholastic achievement and her desire to pursue a career as a human resource professional.

Davis is majoring in Organizational Leadership and Supervision, with a concentration in Human Resource Management, and has maintained an overall 4.0 grade-point average.

This is enough to distinguish most any student, but Davis also works, is married, and has a family.

Davis explains that she did not think about attending college after her high school graduation. In fact, college was about the farthest thing from her mind.

"I grew up . . . I got married," is how she describes it.

However, after a few years she decided it was time for a change. She realized that if she wanted to get ahead, if she wanted to pursue a career that meant something to her, she needed a degree.

As a Michigan City resident, it made sense to Davis to attend Purdue North Central. She set modest goals at first. She knew her high school grades weren't the best, and she wasn't the most successful high school student, so she thought she should ease herself into higher education.

"I thought if I could maintain a 2.0 average I'd ok," she said. Instead she found herself earning straight As.

"I shocked myself," she admitted. "That motivated me to continue in school and to continue my 4.0"

It seems that Davis found a perfect fit at PNC. She enjoyed learning. She liked the subject matter before her. Her instructors were helpful and were interested in her success.

"My husband, my family and my friends always believed in me," she said. "And now, for the first time, my instructors believed in me. That meant a lot and provided a motivation that I never had before."

Sarah Sanders Smith, assistant professor of Organizational Leadership and Supervision, found Davis to be an excellent student. In fact, she wrote a letter of recommendation for the scholarship application that Davis submitted.

"I had the pleasure of meeting Jennifer as a student last fall in my Organizational Behavior class. She was the star of the group and proved to be a delightful student to work with throughout the semester," Sanders Smith wrote.

"Jennifer set the bar high. She completed all assigned work professionally, completely, and on or ahead of schedule. When Jennifer decided to become part of the inaugural PNC Society of Human Resource Management Club, I was thrilled! She accepted the treasurer's office and served as a leader for the club from day one. As in class, Jennifer's enthusiasm and strong work ethic shined through as she consistently contributed to the success of the club this year."

Davis said that she has yet to have a problem in combining her school, home and work responsibilities. It's just a matter to getting organized and sticking to her schedule.

"If you're not busy doing constructive things, you'll do destructive things," she laughed.

Sanders Smith had a slightly different outlook, "Jennifer is where she is supposed to be, when she is supposed to be. She brings with her a positive attitude, a zeal to learn and refreshing optimism for the future. With both positive and less-than-positive work experiences behind her, I believe Jennifer will offer her future employer and coworkers a unique and affective blend of academic know-how and real life experience. She sets goals and works diligently to achieve them. We have discussed her desire to achieve a bachelor's degree with a 4.0 GPA and then continue on for a master's degree in HR. I know she can do it."

Davis believes that her PNC education will pay many dividends in the future.

"I know that I am learning something useful," she said. " I am getting a quality education."