Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Miller selected PCC's Business Student of the Year

Photos and story by James Hill

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PCC business student Kimberley Miller was selected winner of the inaugural PCC Business Student of the Year Award.

Miller juggled schoolwork with a job at Bank of America and raising her two children. Since 2004 she has worked hard to get her associate’s degree and is transferring to Portland State University to study accounting.

Miller was given several plaques by business instructor Greg Rapp, a commemorative emblem and a free one-year subscription to the Wall Street Journal during a brief ceremony at the SS Building.

“I was shocked,” Miller said of hearing that she was the winner. “I never once assumed that it would be possible for me to win. I am flattered.”

She said the time was right when her kids grew up to get back to school and finish what she started. She had been a PCC student in 1992 before leaving to raise her children.

“I was a stay-at-home mother for more than 11 years but when my kids got old enough I decided to finish my business degree,” Miller said. “I love accounting and excelled in it.”

The Tigard resident says that coming back to school was much easier than her first time around. She commented that the best part of coming back was that online registration through MyPCC was easy to use and that she could sign up for classes or access course information from anywhere.

“Wow, it really helps,” she said. “One busy day last year I had to set my class schedule. So I dropped my kids off at school, went home and logged on and registered. It was incredibly easy. There are so many classes. I always found the courses that fit into my schedule. They really complement a person’s lifestyle.”