Working nights, raising two young children, and completing two online programs (both RCC and Stautzenberger), Alejandra Villela turned education into a path toward the life, and classroom, she wanted to build.
At 2 a.m., when most people were asleep, Alejandra Villela’s second shift was just beginning. She had finished a full day of caring for her children and a late shift at work. Now, while her son and daughter slept, she opened her laptop. Papers, quizzes, and course readings had to fit into the hours before they woke around 7 a.m.
Some nights, she did not sleep at all. Alejandra describes that season simply as “busy.” The word barely captures it. She was raising two young children as a solo parent, working from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., taking them to school and therapy appointments, managing a household, and pursuing an education online.
But Alejandra had a reason powerful enough to keep her moving: her children.
“Either I can shut down and not do anything, or I can get up and get to work. My kids were really that drive. They’re counting on me.”
Her journey is proof that a solid education can do more than prepare someone for a job. It can help a parent understand her children, build confidence, discover a calling, and create a future that once felt out of reach.
She Went Back to School for Them
Before enrolling at Rockford Career College, Alejandra had worked as a maintenance assistant at a nursing home and later at a fast-food restaurant. The overnight schedule was not easy, but it allowed her to be present during the day for the moments that mattered.
Her parents made that demanding schedule possible, caring for the children four nights a week. Their support gave her peace of mind and helped her keep up with the bills, but the responsibility for building the family’s future remained squarely on Alejandra’s shoulders.
As both of her children were diagnosed with autism, both nonverbal, Alejandra wanted to better understand what they were experiencing and how to support them. That realization gave her career goal a new urgency.
“I needed to hit the books. I wanted to understand and support them in better ways. I went back to school for them.”
Early childhood education was not a completely new idea. As a girl, Alejandra had helped her younger siblings with schoolwork and loved watching their pride when they solved something on their own. She was drawn to the moment when learning clicked, not because she handed over an answer, but because she helped someone reach it.
One Credential Became a Launchpad
Alejandra completed the Early Childhood Education diploma at Rockford Career College in the spring of 2025. The online program helped her understand children’s development and needs, including her own children’s needs, with greater depth and confidence.
She could have stopped there. Instead, she kept going.
Alejandra continued online with Stautzenberger College and earned her Associate of Applied Science in Early Childhood Education in April, 2026.
The progression was intentional. The diploma helped Alejandra better understand how children learn and develop. The associate degree helped her translate that understanding into a classroom: planning lessons, guiding a group, and practicing the daily work of teaching. It also made her more marketable as she prepared to enter the field.
Career Services helped her prepare for interviews, including how to present herself professionally. When Alejandra applied to Rockford Daycare and Academy, she was ready, and she received an offer after her first interview.
A Workplace That Welcomed the Whole Family
The timing felt almost too perfect. Alejandra needed to complete a 100-hour internship for her associate degree just as she began working at Rockford Daycare and Academy. The opportunity gave her the hands-on experience she needed, but the job mattered for another reason, too.
Alejandra had struggled to find child care that would accept and support both of her children. So, she entered the interview with a nonnegotiable condition.
“I would love to teach here, but my kids come with me. We are a deal.”
Rockford Daycare and Academy said yes to Alejandra and to her children. Today, she walks through the doors with them each morning. The academy serves children from 15 months to six years old and welcomes students with autism, developmental delays, disabilities, and a wide range of needs. For Alejandra, choosing a workplace where her children would be known and supported mattered most.
“You can’t put a price on that,” she said. “What’s better than being able to walk through with them in the morning?”
Now She Is the Safe Space
As a lead teacher, Alejandra now gives other children what she worked so hard to build for her own: a place where they feel safe, understood, capable, and welcome.
She loves watching children grow academically, socially, and emotionally. She notices the victories that do not always appear on a report card: a child trying something new, making a friend, communicating a need, or suddenly understanding a lesson.
“It is fascinating to see the emotional, social, and intellectual growth of a child,” she said. “The feeling of hearing and seeing your students understand what you are teaching is amazing. The relationships I have made with my students and being their safe space is priceless.”
Her education did not replace the instincts she already carried as a mother and older sister. It strengthened them with knowledge, structure, and practice. It gave her the tools to turn empathy into effective teaching—and a lifelong calling into a career.
Transformation and Growth Her Children Can See
School was not the only transformation Alejandra pursued. During her academic journey, she also changed her health. After reaching 302 pounds following the births of her children, she began exercising daily and changing the way her family ate. Running became therapeutic. She recently revealed she has lost approximately 143 pounds.
The changes rippled outward. Her children watched her exercise. They began eating more home-cooked meals and became more willing to try new foods. Just as they saw her study, graduate, and begin teaching, they saw her choose health one day at a time.
For Alejandra, that is the deeper meaning of her journey: children are not standing on the sidelines while a parent builds a better life. They are learning from every step.
“Your kids are part of your journey. They shouldn’t be a reason why you stop living. Bring them with you. They want to see you grow.”
Be the Voice That Says You Can
Alejandra knows what “I don’t have time” feels like. She knows the fear of adding school to an already overloaded life. She also knows the exhaustion, sacrifice, and discomfort that real change can require. Her answer is not to pretend the work will be easy. It is to remember what the work can make possible.
“Life gets better,” she said. “It does get uncomfortable and hard. But if you push through that and work through that, you get what you put in. For a better life, you have to put that work in.”
Her example is already reaching beyond her family and classroom. Teacher assistants who work alongside her have told Alejandra that she inspires them to pursue their own teaching degrees. Her response is immediate: What’s stopping you? Go do it!
She offers the same challenge to every parent who believes there is no room left for a dream: Let your children see you move forward. Let them see you do something difficult. Let them see that growth is possible.
“When you tell yourself you can’t do it, be the voice that says you can. Set the example of what you want your kids to see and do.”
Today, Alejandra is not only building the future she imagined. She is helping young children build theirs.
Her advice is simple—and earned:
“Give it your all. Never doubt your future.”