Daryouch Aziz, Alumnus, School of Business

It is not uncommon for a student at Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) to start a career before entering the classroom. But Daryouch Aziz already had more than a full-time job to accompany his studies. While Aziz worked on his GGC business degree, he also focused on the needs of his private businesses. He owns four Subway restaurants in Gwinnett, Forsyth and Hall Counties, and when he was enrolled at GGC, he was in the midst of preparing to launch a fifth location.

Aziz says that reaching success in business ventures does not preclude the need to learn even more. His wealth of real-world dealings often became the topic of class discussions, which added to learning for everyone.

"I talked in class about my experiences, and a lot of professors asked questions about what I did and how I did it," Aziz adds. "It was a good experience."

Aziz says his GGC classes assisted him to better track such details as financial and accounting matters, information that sometimes is delayed or gets lost in the shuffle.

"The education has helped me run the businesses more efficiently and with a real knowledge of what I'm doing," Aziz says.

While GGC has been a convenient close-to-home option for Aziz, he says the results of mixing non-traditional and beginning students under the guidance of capable professors more than exceeded his expectations.

"I was surprised at how available the faculty and staff were," he adds. "They always were there to help us, and it's something that I will never forget. I feel that GGC is working hard to bring leaders to our community and society."

Aziz also took advantage of a few unique campus leadership opportunities. He was part of a first-of-its-kind collaboration for GGC when faculty and students presented a paper on infant mortality rates at a conference in Dallas, Tx.

He also joined the GGC student-teacher Study Abroad program, which travelled to Belgium, France and Switzerland to study business trends there.