Nontraditional student becomes part of growing support system at Southeast Tech

This paid piece is sponsored by Southeast Technical College.

About 10 years after high school graduation, it became clear that Andy Van Surksum had hit a career ceiling without a college degree.

The northwest Iowa native had gone to a four-year college for a year after high school in 2010, but “it really wasn’t the right time for me,” he said.

He landed a job in IT and learned by doing, but “you get to that point where you need to have a degree if you want to advance much farther,” he said. “It’s hard if you don’t have the credential to go with it.”

Not only that, but Van Surksum felt ready for a career change and decided to follow his father and brother into the accounting industry.

But “I hadn’t been in a classroom in over a decade,” he said. “I looked around at my options and knew I wanted in-person classes so I had the benefit of face-to-face interaction, and it’s more motivating to get in the mindset of going to a location physically.”

It led him to Southeast Technical College, where he joined the two-year accounting program in 2022.

“I liked that it was an option I could afford and that if I wanted to take the two-year degree and transfer to a four-year, I could keep going,” he said. “Southeast Tech became a good start to make sure it was something I wanted to do.”

After a few moments of intimidation walking back into the classroom in his early 30s, Van Surksum soon broke out of his shell.

“By my second semester, I was in an Accounting II class and spent a lot of time focusing on homework and building relationships with the teachers,” he said.

It led him to begin giving back while earning money to support himself while in school by tutoring at Southeast Tech’s Academic Resource Center.

“He was recommended to me by every accounting and math instructor on campus,” said Susanne Huizing, the center’s director.

“When I first met Andy, his servant leadership stood out,” Huizing said. “He is a driven young man that is always sharing his talent for numbers.”

Thanks to Van Surksum’s empathy, expertise and encouragement, he became a go-to resource for other students.

“Over the year, he grew his student support base from 15 students to 60 students,” Huizing said.

“Students began to depend on the intentional accounting support he could give. It became apparent as I was reading surveys from students that he was not only gifted in math and accounting but also knew how to make students feel supported and confident as he helped them develop their individual skills.”

That’s the goal of Southeast Tech’s Academic Resource Center, which has had a full-time director for the past year and has focused on intentional collaboration with students. The center has gone from 981 support touch points during the 2022-23 school year to nearly 9,800 support touch points in the 2023-24 school year.

“I love it when I get to walk around campus and hear someone say: ‘Just go to the ARC. They can help with anything.’” Huizing said. “This is why I love my job so much. The vision of the ARC is to take away the stigma of asking for help.”

Like Van Surksum, many Southeast Tech students are coming from nontraditional paths. They may be going back to school, be among the first in their families to go to college or be new Americans. The ARC is there for all of them.

“We tell our students we are family,” Huizing said. “Over the last year, we have created a welcoming space that creates community while helping each other.”

In addition to walk-in tutoring services, the ARC offers student-led virtual study tables, individualized tutoring, workshops for foundational refreshers for nontraditional students and intentional Lunch & Learns that help with technology or English language proficiency.

“We have teams tutoring for those students that are working and have crazy schedules,” Huizing added.

The tutors represent a broad range of professionals and peers.

“I love that I have a team of retired teachers working and mentoring my peer tutors and STC students. Their experience and wisdom are often what draws students to ask for them by name,” Huizing said.

“I love that I have neurodiverse tutors that are not afraid to share their strategies for success as they work with what some perceive to be a learning barrier. I have a math tutor that is a person who has quadriplegia, and everyone knows that he is the ‘math brain.’ Having this type of diversity as tutors proves to anyone looking for help that we know school can be challenging at times, but if we are going to reach our goals, we must help each other out.”

For Van Surksum, the more connections he made at Southeast Tech, the more rewarding going back to college became.

“If you put yourself out there and make yourself available, the teachers here will definitely put forth the effort to help you succeed,” he said.

His relationships with Southeast Tech led to an internship with accounting firm Brady Martz & Associates, and they were valuable as Van Surksum began seeking and applying for scholarships later in his Southeast Tech career.

“I reached out to Susanne and to my accounting professor to write letters of recommendation, and I was able to get enough scholarships from outside organizations that they almost completely paid for my school the last two years,” he said. “When I first started going back to school, I didn’t even think about applying for scholarships.”

He’s now heading toward a bachelor’s degree in accounting at the University of Sioux Falls, with plans to take his CPA exam and pursue an MBA.

Looking back on his path, “it’s been a very good decision so far,” he said. “I’m very glad I did it.”

Nearly 99 percent of Southeast Tech grads also end their time at the school with a job or taking the next step in their careers. And they often form such a connection that they return to say hello, Huizing said.

“We are so proud of our alumni,” she said. “Having a place to go where you know you have advocates and cheerleaders is an important part of student support and success.”

To learn more about the Academic Resource Center at Southeast Tech, click here.