Student determined to complete business degree for career advancementFebruary 25, 2022

“Growing up, my family referred to me as ‘the responsible one,’” Natalie Aguilar said.  “Since I was 12, I was always the one who awoke the rest of the household in the mornings.  I guess that’s why I felt the need to get all my high school credits completed and graduate a year early instead of dropping out to care for my three younger brothers.  

“I was never very interested in school.  I graduated with honors, but never really liked it—I wasn’t involved in any extracurricular activities—it just wasn’t my thing.  I had some truancy problems in high school.  I didn’t grow up in an ideal family environment, and it would have been really easy for me to go down the wrong path.  However, at a very young age, I was involved in a serious auto accident that put me in a coma for three days.  I don’t remember the incident, but my family always told me that I had been given a second chance at life, so I didn’t want to risk it by making bad choices.”

In 2009, as soon as Aguilar graduated from Legacy High School at the age of 17, she obtained employment working as a bagger and cashier at H-E-B.  By the time she was 21, she was living on her own, and her two brothers who were then 16 and 14 were living with her.  With financial assistance from her grandmother, Aguilar said that she basically raised her younger brothers.

Within a year after she was hired at H-E-B, she was promoted to a cashier in the pharmacy department and then studied for the pharmacy technician certification exam on her own and passed the exam.  Today, she is the lead pharmacy technician.

“I’ve been at H-E-B for 12 ½ years,” she explained.  “It’s a great company, and last summer I realized that I’m probably as high as I can go in H-E-B’s career ladder without a college degree.  I’d really like to move my up to the corporate office in San Antonio, H-E-B’s tech hub in Austin or be in on the company’s expansion in the North Dallas area.  However, I can’t do that without a degree; I need to understand the business side of things.”

This past August, Aguilar began taking classes at Midland College (MC) toward an associate degree in business.  She takes advantage of MC’s new 8-week session format with a combination of face-to-face and online courses.  She also takes courses during the interim sessions and summer sessions.  Still the “responsible one,” Aguilar is determined to get a degree as quickly as she can in order to advance in her career.

“I grab any chance I can to complete coursework in shortened sessions so that I can accelerate my graduation date,” Aguilar said.  “I’m hoping to get an associate degree in about 18 months and then continue in Midland College’s Organizational Management bachelor’s degree program. 

“The first 8-week session was pretty rough,” she explained.  “I am still working full-time while going to school.  When the COVID Delta variant hit Midland so badly in early fall and now the Omicron variant, we are extremely busy in the pharmacy department.  My 40-hour work weeks turned into 50- to 60-hour weeks.  I don’t have time for much but study, work and classes, but I am getting through it.”

At the beginning of the 2nd 8-week session in late October, Aguilar was involved in a car accident on the way to her first class of the session.

“My class started at 5:30 in the evening, and I wanted to get there early to find the classroom and hopefully meet the instructor before class began,” she said.  “I was on Garfield Street near The Horseshoe when a car t-boned me.  Fortunately, I wasn’t hurt too badly—just scratches and bruises—but my car, a brand new 2021 Toyota 4Runner, was totaled.  I remember messaging my instructor while I was waiting on the paramedics telling her that I wouldn’t be able to make the class that evening.”

Aguilar’s determination has not gone unnoticed among MC faculty.

“Natalie impressed me with her determination and sense of urgency about earning her associate degree,” English Professor Dr. William Brown said.  “My favorite writing of hers was her second paper on being persuaded to do something positive.  She wrote about how her boyfriend introduced her to a book on financial literacy.  It was fascinating to read how her boyfriend and that book prompted her to think long-term about her finances, which then led her to consider how Midland College fits into her long-term career goals.  As an English major, I can understand how a book can have such a power influence for self-improvement on a person.”

Even with her busy schedule, Aguilar still finds time to spend with family.  Family barbecues are a favorite.  She also enjoys being involved in the community.  In the past, she has been a member of H-E-B teams working with Keep Midland Beautiful, March of Dimes and the annual Feast of Sharing.  Soon, she hopes to begin mentoring a child through Big Brothers, Big Sisters.  

Aguilar pays for most of her tuition expenses on her own.  She was awarded $500 from the Marion and Jan Jones Scholarship in the fall semester, and because of her work ethic, the scholarship award was increased to $1,000 in the spring semester.

“I received a call from a Midland College administrator who had met Natalie and recommended that we increase her scholarship award,” MC Scholarship Director Erin Casey-Richardson said.  “Natalie is very impressive.  She works a full-time job, is an excellent student and has a career goal.  The Jones Scholarship is especially intended for students like Natalie—nontraditional students, determined to better their lives who are working hard to make a better life for themselves and their families.  I was delighted that we were able to increase her scholarship award. I have no doubt that she will meet and surpass her goals.”