At 15-years old Bianca began working at WSU’s Math Corps, a summer camp and high school bridge program for Detroit Public school students, as a teaching assistant. Over a 10-year period, she moved from teaching assistant to a part-time math instructor to 7th grade program supervisor. After graduating from University of Michigan in 2012, she began teaching algebra and geometry through Teach for America, Detroit Edison Public School Academy and Old Redford Academy. She found herself helping her students on their resumes, college applications, and tutoring. It was during this time that she discovered she was having more in-depth conversations with her students, outside the classroom, speaking with them about what they wanted to do after high school, asking them to “think beyond 10th grade”—in essence, advising her students while teaching.
While she enjoyed working in the field of education, she wanted to do more outside of the classroom but says “it took a while to figure that part out.” “As an educator, I not only realized that I was only as successful as my students, but that I yearned to make a difference outside the classroom and to do so, I knew I needed to further my education”. She quickly landed a position in the WSU Art Department in 2016 as an Office Service Clerk II. It was during this time she began taking courses towards her MBA at Wayne State. Working in the Art Department gave Bianca a taste of the academic advising life, working closely with the two advisors in the department on a daily basis.
Mixing her MBA studies and her love of students, Bianca started in the Bursar’s Office in Student Accounts Receivable in 2018 as an Accounting Assistant Senior where she would sort student’s tuition and billing issues, 3rd party payments, etc. This made sense given her background, yet Bianca knew in the back of mind that she wanted to help students in a greater capacity.
In December 2019, Bianca took a position as an Academic Advisor in the Mike Ilitch School of Business, advising students in Finance and Accounting, where she says “that’s when it started making sense!” Throughout her time in the Math Corps, she always thought about how to move from educator to advisor. While she loved teaching, she always felt a pull towards helping students “beyond the lesson of the day” but understands how “teaching is involved in what we do as advisors.” Her enthusiasm for academic advising comes across as she talks about working for what is best for her students, about providing students with the necessary resources to be to successful, and about how it is “a blessing to have the opportunity to help students academically—for the long term.”
Bianca spoke about working from home during the pandemic and the challenges that posed. Making connections with her students has proven difficult, especially given she is still relatively new to advising. However, she was determined to come up with creative ways to communicate with her students, holding an “advisor check-in” to see how things are going, to answer any questions they might have, and to let them know she is here for them, which she has found to be successful. Many times receiving a “thanks for checking in on me” from her students.
Bianca looks forward to graduating from WSU in May 2022 with her MBA and to furthering her advising knowledge by attending academic conferences. She enjoys time with her family and friends, working out, traveling (back when we could!), and is an active member of the women’s ministry at her church.