By his own admission Gerald Bavero was not a model college student the first time around. “I had a 2.3 grade point average. I didn't know why I was there.” The same cannot be said about his experience at Capella.
After graduating from a Pennsylvania university with an English degree, he found work as a hiking outfitter on the Appalachian Trail. He later used that training when he became what's called a “prevention educator” for several Georgia school districts, providing adventure-based group counseling and mentoring. And that eventually led to his current position as an elementary school counselor.
Bavero completed his MS degree with a School Counseling specialization in June 2009. “The curriculum alone helped me become knowledgeable in the counseling field, while I was working with students but still in school myself,” he says. “I was getting cutting-edge information.”
He grew in other ways during his Capella education as well: “Not just academic knowledge, but the self-knowledge and self-awareness of how a professional counselor thinks and acts.”
For Bavero, the faculty at Capella made a real difference in the quality of his education. During his first residency, he was struck by the one-to-one attention he received from faculty members. Though he was earning his master's online, the residencies he attended helped him connect with his instructors and form lasting relationships. In fact, Bavero now serves on an advisory council with two of his instructors, helping to chart the future course of the degree program he completed.
He was impressed, too, with the high caliber of the faculty members he learned from. “When you see the way your faculty demonstrate different therapeutic techniques, when you look at their impeccable credentials, when you're taking a class and one of the instructors helped write the book—you know you're working with leaders in the field.”
Now that he's earned his master's degree, Bavero is looking forward to completing a doctoral program at Capella. “The bonds that I made, both with Capella as a university and with the faculty, are a big part of the reason I want to earn my PhD at Capella.”