Dave Petratis knows from personal experience the difference community colleges make. The president and CEO of North American operations for Schneider Electric, a multinational electrical infrastructure company, Petratis started out taking business classes at Iowa Western Community College while working in an electrical supply house.
“In a global economy, our country’s ability to produce the skills we need to compete has never been more important. Community college is the front door. It clearly provides opportunities,” Petratis said during Harper College’s 40th Anniversary Gala, held Saturday at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center. Square D, a subsidiary of Schneider Electric, was the event’s major sponsor (the company is headquartered across the street from the college).
Harper College, based in Palatine, offers technical, pre-baccalaureate and continuing education classes, and now is seeking state authorization to offer bachelor’s degree programs. Harper enrolls 40,000 students annually, 35 percent from minority groups. “We run the gamut from students who are academically challenged to those who can go anywhere in the country. That’s the beauty of the community college,” Harper College Preisdent Robert Breuder said.
The $500-per-person benefit raised funds for Harper student scholarships. More than 300 people attended the event, which included a cocktail reception; dinner of squash soup, petite filet and black sea bass, and chocolate cake, and a performance by actor and stand-up comedian Kevin Pollak.
The gala was co-chaired by John and Rita Canning and David and Diane Hill. The chairman and CEO of Madison Dearborn Partners, a private equity investment group, John Canning declined to comment on reports that he might lead an attempt to buy the Chicago Cubs when the Tribune Company (which also owns the Tribune) puts the team up for sale at the end of this season. But he said he’ll be attending playoff games with Rita and their six adult children.
Is he optimistic about the team’s chances? “After 100 years [without a World Series championship], you can’t be optimistic, but I’m definitely hopeful,” he said.
David Hill is stepping down as the founding chair of Kimball Hill Homes. “On Monday, I turn into a moth and fly away,” he said. Actually, he’ll become the company’s executive chair. He acknowledged it’s a turbulent time for the home-building business. “It’s never gone down quite so suddenly as in the last two years. It’s spooky.”
Former Hoffman Estates mayor and village clerk Virginia Hayter, who helped found Harper College by running a petition drive in Schaumburg, said, “We knew not everyone was going to college and we needed a spectrum of people with technical skills as well as four-year degrees.” Hayter retired last May and lives in Newport Beach, Calif., where she’s helping raise her two grandchildren.
Past and present Harper students played roles in the evening — the rose table settings were created by students in the floral design program, and the event was overseen by Harper hospitality and food service program alumnus David Ostrowski, the hotel’s director of event operations. “It’s nice to go back and do my part to make this a night a wow for them,” he said.
Students from Harper’s distinguished scholars program — which provides full scholarships to students who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school class — helped register and direct guests at the benefit. They included Laura Faust, Jessica McFadyen, Kalina Neskoska, Fernanda Ramirez, Plamena Tzoneva and Galena Vasileva, all of whom plan to go on to bachelor’s degree programs.
Faust, who’s studying early childhood education, likes Harper’s small class sizes and dedicated faculty. “The teachers themselves are really good; they really care about the students,” she said.
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