When Joselyn Estrada graduated from the Northeast Tech Kansas Campus in May 2023, she didn’t have to wander far to fulfill her passion for making a difference. By December that year, she found herself back on campus, this time as an employee.
“I was freshly out of high school, so what I wanted my career to be was something meaningful,” she said. “I didn't just want a retail job at some store in a mall. I wanted to know what I was doing was making a difference, and I was so blessed to get a job here as an administrative assistant.”
From the start, Estrada knew she loved what NT had to offer.
“I visited campus as a sophomore in high school. I was like, ‘This is definitely for me.’ I enrolled in Visual Communications and completed the office specialist pathway. I worked so hard to keep my grades up and feel like Tech really did prepare me with on-the-job training opportunities.”
Nowadays, you’re most likely to find Estrada at the front desk.
“I love working in the front and answering phones. I love interacting with the students. Especially with me being an alum of the campus, it really opened my eyes to how five minutes of talking to someone or just answering a simple question can really make a difference.”
But her job isn’t always just answering phones.
“I see myself more as a person who fills in the gaps when needed,” she said. “There are certain days when you need to be pulled to do something or help someone. We have a food pantry here, and I help keep up with that. I help our student advisor a lot with tasks she needs to do for events, like when we have our eighth-grade and sophomore tours. I'm always stepping in to help with whatever I can.”
Estrada’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. During the 2024-25 school year, she was voted Support Educator of the Year for the Kansas Campus by her peers.
While she doesn’t quite know how the future will shape up, Estrada does know her plans include NT.
“I would love to move up,” she said. “Our new deputy superintendent, Dr. Ravonda Higgins, was telling me her story, how she started working in the office, then as an instructor, to now. Just interacting with her a little bit really opened my eyes and showed me that, ‘Wow, you really can do anything.’ The limits are above the sky. I'm young, but I know this is the family I want to stick with.”