Unleash the prescription for success
“I know exactly what I want out of life, and this is it. Roosevelt is helping it all come together.”
Rita Svendsen is a student, an employee and a mother – and she can’t wait to be a pharmacist too. One of Roosevelt’s many non-traditional returning adult students, she’ll finish her Bachelor of Science in biology and a minor in chemistry in May 2011.
Rita commutes to the Schaumburg Campus from Hanover Park, Ill. On weekends, she works part-time as a certified pharmacy technician for Walgreens. While the demands of her life are a lot to handle, Rita has it covered. “I love to work. I was a workaholic before I had my daughter. I’m just looking forward to being out there, helping people in the community.”
When selecting a university for the completion of her degree, Rita says the convenient location and available child care on Roosevelt’s Schaumburg Campus enabled her to fit an education into her lifestyle. “As a returning adult student and mother, a flexible schedule is a ‘must.’ I loved that Roosevelt offered daycare right next to the campus and near my home.” Her daughter is enrolled at The Early Childhood Education Center, Roosevelt’s on-site, state-of-the-art child care facility managed by Bright Horizons Family Solutions. “I am able to switch her schedule every semester – because she goes when I go – and the staff is very accommodating.” Her daughter loves the set-up as well. “Now when I drop her off, she points to the different buildings and says ‘That’s your school, and that’s my school.’ It’s true. We go to school side-by-side!”
Rita says the Schaumburg Campus learning community is like a family, and Roosevelt’s approach to education can’t be beat. “This is definitely a student-driven school, and with that you will get more than just a degree. You get a personal education. If you’re looking for a big, anonymous lecture hall environment, you won’t find it here. Roosevelt’s professors here don’t overload you with useless information. They teach what’s important.”
Since her first semester, Rita knew she could expect greatness. “I was walking to class and a poster caught my eye. It was an announcement that Roosevelt professor Steven Meyers, PhD had won Illinois Professor of the Year. I was impressed, because he defeated everyone in the whole state! As the semester went on, I realized firsthand how great the University’s professors and faculty really are.”
By carefully planning her routine, Rita also makes time for volunteer opportunities related to her major. She’s the founder and president of the local chapter of Colleges Against Cancer on the Schaumburg Campus, a national program sponsored by the American Cancer Society that promotes cancer awareness among college students, faculty and staff.
In the Summer of 2009, she also helped organize a weeklong science camp for girls in middle school. “This was an excellent opportunity to be a role model for young girls, help get them motivated into the sciences. Our theme was forensics, so I had the girls solve a crime. We went to work in the labs, toured the Schaumburg police department, evaluated skid marks, performed DNA testing, studied hair and cheek swabs under the microscope. Each day they learned something new, including the complexity of fingerprinting. They were doing things I didn’t get to do at that age. I mean, running DNA – you just don’t normally do that in middle school.”
After graduation, Rita will be applying to pharmacy school, including Roosevelt’s College of Pharmacy, to pursue her PharmD, the doctorate degree in pharmacy. She’d like to continue working in a retail pharmacy environment, and she hopes her ability to shuffle her duties as a pharmacy tech, a student and a mother will motivate other adult students and parents to consider making college a priority. “I did it. I’m 32 and I put myself back in school. I’m at Roosevelt for me and for the future of my daughter. How would I be able to encourage her to go to school if I didn’t go to school myself?”
