For Bridget Baehl, finding her place at Aquinas College wasn't part of the original plan, but it became the defining chapter of her journey toward a career in higher education.

Finding Aquinas
When searching for colleges, Bridget knew exactly what she wanted: a school where she could be "a name, not a number." She also wanted to explore beyond her home state of Illinois without ending up in the middle of nowhere. Her first campus visit to Aquinas College occurred late in her senior year of high school, during a snowy February weekend. Despite sliding down Hruby Hill in the winter weather, something clicked. "Everybody said hi to each other when they were walking around campus," Bridget recalls. When her tour group popped into a classroom, the professor stopped mid-lecture to speak with them. These small moments revealed a community where people genuinely cared.

An overnight visit sealed the deal.

After experiencing downtown Grand Rapids, attending classes, and watching intramural soccer, Bridget found herself at Schnitz Deli with her dad the following day. "While we were there, I was like, 'Yes, I'm for sure going to Aquinas. This feels like home.'"

Where People Come First
Bridget shared a few anecdotes that highlighted how everyone showed up for one another.

From the beginning, she noticed that faculty don't just teach; they're genuinely invested. She recalls a professor who pushed back an exam by fifteen minutes to be with their kids on the first day of school during the pandemic. "And that was my experience with the professors at Aquinas," she says. "It was always human-focused."

That personal investment shaped her academic journey in unexpected ways. Bridget arrived planning to study special education, but quickly realized it wasn't the right fit. After taking the introduction to communications course, Professor Mark O'Toole encouraged her to try a business class. "He was always like, 'You're going to be an executive,'" she remembers. That confidence helped her pivot to a double major in Business and Communication. These interactions and moments spotlighted that Aquinas was where she was meant to be.

Becoming Part of Everything
Bridget's involvement at Aquinas reads like a catalog of campus life. She served as a resident assistant for three years, living in St. Joseph Hall as a freshman and returning there for her senior year as an RA. She worked at the Corner, joined the Irish Dance team, and became a driving force in Student Activities, where she helped plan events and became known for painting the rock every Monday to promote upcoming activities.

"Everybody used to joke that I was everywhere and nowhere," she laughs. The student activities office became her second home—a place where countless decisions were made and lasting friendships formed.

The COVID-19 pandemic arrived during her sophomore year, upending campus life. But even amid uncertainty, Bridget found purpose. She worked with staff to create engagement activities for students, from Instagram bingo cards to virtual events.

By senior year, Bridget had become a student leader in the activities office. She and three other student workers met weekly with the V.P. to plan programming and outline upcoming needs.

"We got to make a lot of the calls," she says. That level of trust and responsibility revealed what working in higher education could truly look like, and confirmed it was the path she wanted to pursue.

Mentors Who Made the Difference
Throughout her time at Aquinas, Bridget found mentors who shaped her path. Professor Mark O’Toole encouraged her business pursuits. Mike Ingram, in Campus Ministry, listened patiently whenever she considered giving up, always asking "why?" rather than dismissing her concerns. Dee Wagner, the administrative staff member who "just ran the school from her desk," seemed to know the answer to every question.  Dana Hebreard at the AQ Advantage Center became a trusted confidante, meeting for lunches to talk through challenges. And Julie Bevins in the Writing Center helped polish her graduate school application. "I felt like the people who worked at Aquinas really made you think about the things you were doing," Bridget reflects. "That is something that I'm eternally grateful for."

Bridget's path to graduate school wasn't always clear. She cycled through career ideas —real estate, HR, anything involving people — before realizing she could turn her campus involvement into a profession. "Somebody once said to me, 'Well, you could do this for a job,'" she recalls. "And I was like, 'That's not real. You can't do this for a job.'"

But she could. After graduating, she spent the summer helping with orientation before heading to graduate school at Grand Valley State University, where she earned an assistantship in academic advising. Her practical experiences included working at Brown University's pre-orientation program, an opportunity she credits to her diverse Aquinas background in housing, advising, and student activities.

A Legacy of Saying Yes
Asked what advice she'd give current students, Bridget keeps it simple: "It doesn't hurt to say yes." She stumbled into most of her opportunities rather than seeking them out, but the door was always open. "I loved the fact that you didn't have to have a single identity here. You could be involved in a lot of different things."

From service learning trips to Philadelphia, to late-night desk shifts where homework got done, and friendships deepened, to building deck chairs outside the student center, Bridget's Aquinas experience was defined by showing up and by the community that showed up for her in return.

"I always saw work as something that you had to do, not something you got to do," she says. "Aquinas changed that.”