Graduate enters career helped by Gateway’s real-life experiences

Angelique Ortiz enjoys cooking and working with food and began a related career pathway by enrolling in Gateway’s Culinary Arts program.

That is, until she pondered her future a little more and decided she liked math even better – and enrolled in Accounting instead. Her program shift added up to success for Angelique, who went on to earn Gateway Accounting and Business Management associate degrees.

Angelique, called Angel by many, has already started her career, working in a staffing office at an area business. She says Gateway prepared her well for her career, including an opportunity to engage in an internship that helped her apply what she learned in the classroom to the working world.

“In our classes, we were able to learn from real-life examples,” says Angel. “That helped me when I entered my career.”

Angel gained leadership skills in areas other than her coursework, too. She served in a student leadership role on the college’s United Student Government and worked for the college. In addition, she was a chapter president for Gateway’s National Leadership Society and was a member of Phi Theta Kappa as well as serving as PTK’s regional state communications director.

Angel’s Gateway education has benefited her as she seeks to continue her education through a four-year degree from Upper Iowa University in Business Administration with a Human Resources emphasis. Gateway and Upper Iowa have a transfer agreement which allows students to transfer their Gateway credits toward a four-year degree, saving them time and money.

Angel also received a Gateway Technical College Foundation scholarship which helped her to continue her studies.