When Agie Madrid began working with American Career College, there was only one campus and a handful of employees. Madrid's desk was between "the controller, the accountant and the IT guy," which gave her a ringside seat to the school's day-to-day opertions. Twenty years later, ACC has expanded to five campuses and employs nearly 1,000 people. Since then, Madrid has climbed her way up the ladder and now leads the financial aid department at ACC-Ontario, where she has worked since the campus was established in 2006.
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What do you enjoy most about working here?
“Everybody is so nice. Everybody is so friendly. And to this day, I still hear that. People who come to campus, that’s the first thing they say about us, ‘Gosh, you guys are so nice. You are all so friendly.’ And it’s not show, I think we generally just like each other."
What sets ACC apart?
“David (Pyle) has always believed in customer service and you see that. The other thing that I know he enjoys is when he comes to campus, he likes to be proud of what he sees, and that sets us apart. And I’ve heard that too. Anytime I give anyone a tour those are the two things that I hear all the time."
What is your most memorable moment here?
"The one I do remember — don’t ask me what year it was — but there was a bus strike and we ordered a school bus to help students get to class. It was that color yellow and somebody wrote ‘American Career College' on the side of it, taped it up there, and we went up and down Vermont (Avenue) starting at 5 o’ clock in the morning. And because there actually was no bus service running, people kept trying to get on the bus and you were supposed to tell them ‘Sorry, this is only for our students.’ To me, those were fun days — get up at 4 in the morning, get to work, go on the bus, you know. Fun."
Tell us about your current job
“I’m the financial aid director at ACC Ontario. My basic responsibilities are to handle all the students as they come in, and make sure everyone is happy. I make sure my staff is well-trained and knowledgeable, so when people do come in, they’re able to walk away knowing they’ve actually gotten what they want out of this. We don’t want anyone to leave feeling like they weren’t helped."
What should people know about Financial Aid?
“A lot of people just plug in the information and we spend a lot of time fixing it and making sure it’s accurate. You’re asking for federal aid so you can’t just fill out the form and and say ‘Let’s see what happens.'”
Is there anything at ACC you're really proud about?
“Our GED program. EdFund at the time asked us to write up something and ask for grant money from them. So we all put our little parts in there and the director sent it off and we won. We won, I think it was a $50,000 scholarship back then, and we still have the GED program today. It was such a surprise. It was just something off the top of our heads. We got that grant for like two or three years in a row. And when it finished, we kept the program going. It turned out to be a big hit. When you look at all the other career colleges, they really don’t have that but ours turned out to be a big hit.”
Do you have a motto you live by?
“Somebody told me once, ‘When I’m done here today I’m going to go home, take a shower and wash the day away so tomorrow I can start fresh.’ I looked at her and said, ‘Hey, that’s a great idea.’ Just let it go and start again the next day, so that’s what you do: you just get up and come in the next day.”
Who is your role model?
"My dad. He passed away two years ago. The things he instilled in me I still I practice every day. Like he made me change my own oil, he made me do my own taxes, he made me read the whole thing — I hate reading instructions, to this day I hate reading instructions. I have a younger son who now gets to read them, but what I’m saying is, my dad made me do all of that. And the other thing he taught me was when it was time to go wash the car, we all went outside to wash the car and we got it done in five minutes. I make my group work as a team and pitch in together to get things done. So those are things that I think he taught me."
Anything you want to add or want people to know about ACC?
"Mr. Pyle has been the best boss I’ve ever had. I’ve worked for a variety of bosses, but I’ve never met a man as nice as him. From him, it's always from the heart. He used to sit there and shake every student’s hand at Student Appreciation Days and just listen to them all. And he did it with a smile of his face, the whole entire time. What other boss does that? You want to work here, because you already know he’s genuine."
What about you might surprise people?
"I love to oil paint. I tried watercolor and I missed my oils immediately because I couldn’t get it to do what I wanted it to do, so oil is my medium. I’m a copy artist. I can make it exactly like the original. If you give me a photograph, the painting will look like the photograph. I can’t turn his head this way and I can’t turn his head that way. I can’t do anything, but I can make it exactly like the original.”
