Former STLCC student comes ‘full circle’ in new role with college.
By: Bri Heaney, News Editor
Robin Phillips’ road to becoming the STLCC Vice Chancellor of Human Resources started at STLCC.
Phillips received her Associates Degree from the college and was, as many students at the college are now often times, a nontraditional student. It was the different path that her education took that inspired her journey into human resources, she said.
“When I graduated from high school, I didn’t have a lot of support unfortunately that would help me navigate the world at such a critical time when you need support,” said Phillips.
It would be her educational endeavors that brought about her desire to help people through.
“I did know that I wanted to do something that involved working with people and when there were opportunities to come in and implement change that would help the community as a whole, I had some inclination toward human resources right from the start,” she said.
After some time spent away at the University of Iowa, Phillips’ mother became ill and she moved back to the place she was born and raised, Saint Louis, to take care of her. She knew she wanted to continue her education but the demands of her life outside of school had grown. Phillips enrolled in STLCC at the Forest Park Campus.
“I attribute a lot of my success and [the] opportunities I had not only to my upbringing but to Saint Louis Community College,” said Phillips.
Phillips said that the school was able to adapt to the different things that were happening in her life and it was that flexibility that helped make her degree from the college possible.
“There were times where I was able to go full time… there were times where I was able to go part time,” said Phillips. “I always encourage people when things don’t go exactly how you would like them to go, just go, you can take it one class at a time.”
Advisors helped Phillips find scholarships that helped her pay for Washington University after she was accepted to the college, she said.
“I got my bachelor’s in industrial organizational psychology at Wash U,” says Phillips.
After graduating from Washington University, Phillips went on to complete her Masters Degree at Troy University and is currently looking to pursue her Juris Doctor degree.
“I never want to stop learning,” said Phillips. Phillips is one of the thousands of Saint Louis Community college alumni that graduated since it was founded in 1962.
“I am [an] alumni and I am proud,” said Philips.
Coming back to the college was somewhat of a full circle move for Phillips.
“When the opportunity came up to work for STLCC I thought, wow, that would be awesome to spend my time working day and nights, because we often work nights, working for an organization that I so believe in,” she said.
