“I wanted to get a better job, and the next thing I knew, I had a master’s degree,” Phyllis Youga said of how Glen Oaks Community College kickstarted her long career in marketing, education, and municipal government.
Originally living in Hillsdale and attending Jackson Community College, she transferred to Glen Oaks after meeting her then-husband, a Sturgis resident.
“The professors I had at Glen Oaks were so available and truly cared about students,” she said.
She especially enjoyed economics lessons with John Mann.
“It was a dreaded class, but he was such a good instructor,” she said, indicating that he could make the concepts understandable to young people. “It was incredible the education he provided.”
English instructor Ron Miazga and art history teacher Lee Thornton also ranked high on her list of influential professors. Thornton gave her a lifelong love of art; which lead to her organizing monthly art exhibits at Sturges-Young Auditorium during her tenure there.
After graduating in 1986 with an associate of arts and associate of business, Youga parlayed her Glen Oaks education into two organizational communication degrees: a bachelor’s from Hillsdale College and a master’s from Western Michigan University.
After earning her bachelor’s degree, she spent 16-17 years as an adjunct faculty member at Glen Oaks, teaching classes from remedial reading and math, to speech, to her favorite subject – interpersonal communication.
“I loved teaching there,” she said.
She appreciated having a wide variety of ages in her classroom.
“The older could teach the younger,” she said. “It made for a very interesting student body to teach to.”
Outside of Glen Oaks, her career began at Sturges-Young Auditorium, where she started as assistant manager and was promoted to manager. She spent a year and a half as the assistant Calhoun County Administrator prior to an 18-year career as a marketing manager for Sturgis Hospital.
Most recently, she retired from the LaGrange County Convention and Visitors Bureau, where she worked as executive director for four years.
Phyllis has been on the GOCC Foundation board since 2016, serving as president since 2019. She can’t say enough about the impact GOCC has had on her life and the lives of thousands of others who have walked through the college’s doors to pursue a higher education.