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Fashioning a New Career

Stow Campus business administration– management student Joseph Blair-Walker was attending a job fair in Akron, Ohio last fall when he had a realization. There were a lot of good jobs available, but he soon learned he could get nowhere in his job search without an education. Luckily for him, the admissions staff from National’s new campus in nearby Stow was also at the job fair.

Joseph described his initial meeting with the campus’s admissions staff. “I told them what I was looking for, what I wanted to do in my life, and [when] I wanted to have it done, and they said ‘yeah, we can help you out,’ he recalls. “And here I am, and loving it.”

“I want something different out of my life.”

An Akron native, Joseph has some lofty goals for himself. “I always wanted to own my own clothing store,” he admits. His long-term plan is to establish a business that can combine his interest in fashion with his desire to contribute to the well-being of his community. “I want to be able to give back to the community,” he says, by establishing a responsible business that assists the community with neighborhood cleanups and similar activities.

Joseph has had a variety of jobs in the past, from door-to-door sales to installing custom wheel rims. But the business administration–management program is a welcome change of pace. “This is a totally new field…this is what I’ve been wanting to do, so that’s my drive.”

His philosophy is no less ambitious than his goal. “I want something different out of my life too,” he says. “I want to be able to say ‘I did something worth living for,’ – I don’t want to be a statistic. The only way I can do that is to stay positive, and stay in school.”