Mom, daughter receiving degrees from Benedictine

As Laura Hornell waited to accept her undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois in 2009, she heard names being called of graduates who were from the same family.

About 10 years before, her mom, Deb, had stopped taking graduate classes at Benedictine University in Lisle as she focused on running her own business and raising three children in Glen Ellyn.

Laura Hornell, about to enter Benedictine's nutrition and wellness master's program, had a vision.

“I just thought, ‘That could be me and my mom up there,'” she said. “I told her, ‘I want you to go back to school and finish your master's and I want us to walk together.'”

Two years later, that vision will become reality. The Hornells will join about 1,000 other students who will receive degrees May 15 during Benedictine's 118th commencement convocation.

Deb Hornell, who runs a business consulting firm out of her Glen Ellyn home, began taking graduate classes at Benedictine in 1994, until “life got busy,” she said. But with her daughter's encouragement, she was able to complete her 45 remaining credits in a two-year span.

She will receive a master's degree in management and organizational behavior.

“The reason why I was so committed to doing it was because I had an actual vision of my daughter and myself in cap and gown,” Deb said. “That was the biggest thing that kept me going. And I knew I didn't want to let her down.”

She also knew how she impressed upon her children the importance of education. Proof of that is evident: A day before Benedictine's graduation, Deb's daughter Lindsay was scheduled to graduate from the University of Iowa. And in June, son Matt will graduate from Glenbard West High School.

Of course Deb's husband Bill may have set the tone by earning an MBA from Harvard University.

Deb originally went to college to pursue a degree in education, and after graduating from Indiana University, became a preschool and kindergarten teacher. But when she and her husband left for Boston in the early 1980s, teaching jobs were few and far between.

So she started working for a bank and, because of her background in education, she entered the company's training department. By 1989, Deb had started her own training and organizational development business.

Now 55, Deb's desire to learn hasn't ceased.

She says the business world has changed drastically since she entered it, and taking graduate classes has given her “a fresh perspective on how to do what I do effectively.”

One of her favorite classes at Benedictine was on the topic of leadership. Her classmates included other lifelong learners: a nun from Tanzania, two police officers, four high school teachers and six businesspeople. Their instructor was a retired Army officer.

The Hornells never had a class together, though they say they spent many nights working on homework at the dining room table.

Laura, who recently was hired as a clinical dietitian at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said her parents once told her that college wasn't an option — it was a requirement.

“It's one of the most important things you can do,” she said. “They wanted you to find something you love.”