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Spotlight: Daniella Mazzaro

Attending JJC has helped second-year student Daniella Mazzaro do more than save money on college tuition. Her involvement in three student clubs has helped her overcome a lifelong shyness.

"I was really shy before I got here," she says. "Faculty and staff really care about their students so they encouraged me to get involved. I was able to come out of my shell."

Now, Mazzaro, 20, is president of the Student Alumni Club and regularly leads meetings with her student colleagues. She is also a peer mentor and a member of the JJC Honors Program.

The native Venezuelan moved to Joliet last year. Now living at Centennial Commons, JJC's student housing, Mazzaro is at the start of her second year at the college. Though she cites archaeology as her first love, Mazzaro says her career goal is to become a dentist.

"I wanted to get my bachelor's degree, but I couldn't afford a four-year university," she says. "Thanks to JJC, I've started my college education, and next year I am transferring to study dentistry as a junior at the University of Illinois-Chicago. I won't have to worry about outrageous student loans when I'm done with school, and the education I have received at JJC has been great."

Mazzaro hopes to one day open a practice that provides dental health care services to lower-income families