by Adrian Aldrich ’02
Vice President for Institutional Advancement
Last month at North Central College’s 158th commencement, we launched the Class of 2023 into the world — 719 graduates who have officially joined more than 30,000 Cardinal alumni nationwide.
A high level of community and connectedness among our alumni is a strength, particularly when research shows that up to 80 percent of jobs are found through networking. More than two-thirds of our alumni live within a 50-mile radius of our campus adjacent to downtown Naperville. Among them are 2,941 alumni who make their home in Naperville. They include the principal of Naperville Central High School, the president of Wheaton Bank and Trust, the CEO of the Naperville Chamber of Commerce, the chief development officer for DuPage Children’s Museum, and the City’s mayor. The list goes back generations. Some grew up here, attended North Central, and stayed. Others came from outside the area, or state, and found a home — and opportunity — in Naperville.
As a proud North Central alumnus, a Naperville resident, and board chair of the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce, I know what an asset our graduates are to the local business community, our schools and our civic organizations. By providing a continuous stream of emerging professionals, “Naperville’s College” builds upon the City’s remarkable reputation.
North Central attracts a larger-than-average number of students who choose liberal arts majors such as English, history, philosophy or mathematics. Many go on to highly competitive graduate school programs. Our more than 70 undergraduate majors include mechanical, electrical and computer engineering. And with a growing suite of graduate-level health science offerings, our alumni increasingly work in health care settings. The Class of 2023 included 44 master of occupational therapy graduates. We also have graduate programs for athletic training and physician assistant studies. In January, we welcomed the first cohort to our new Doctor of Physical Therapy program. North Central’s new Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program will begin in fall 2023.
Our programs are diverse and so is our student body — and therefore our alumni network. More than 30 percent of students identify as being from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, and 37% are the first in their families to attend college. Our award-winning Cardinal First program for first-generation students is nationally recognized.
Many of our alumni have been student-athletes, excelling in academics while competing in one of our 27 intercollegiate athletic programs. During the 2022-2023 seasons, our student-athletes earned 44 All-America awards and 41 national academic awards, and three North Central teams won national titles: football, women’s triathlon and women’s wrestling, while men’s volleyball finished as the national runner up.
Lucky for Naperville, Cardinals fly high — but often not far from the nest.
