Even before officially graduating, Leonor De Biasio was able to parlay her Master of Education in Educational Leadership degree from Yorkville University into three job offers.
“The idea behind getting my Master of Education was to further my career, and it worked. By the time I completed my research paper, I was offered three different opportunities,” said the 49-year-old working mother, who went on to accept two of that trio of offers.
“I am now the Advanced Practice Clinical Educator for the Perioperative Services Program (at St. Joseph’s Health Centre), and I’m also an adjunct lecturer at the University of Toronto…so having this Masters really opened up a lot of doors for me.”
While it ended up a fortuitous one, De Biasio said her decision to go back to school to pursue her Master’s degree was initially a daunting one.
“I’d been thinking about taking my Master’s for many, many years – it was just that my life couldn’t work around it,” said De Biasio, who was juggling three jobs when she enrolled at Yorkville.
Not only was Di Biasio a 17-year veteran nurse at the Hospital for Sick Children, she was also a travelling clinical project coordinator for a Ministry-funded organization, who sold jewelry on the side.
“Plus, it’s been 20-something years (since I was in school), so it was a big step for me,” she added, “but when I saw Yorkville University and I saw the online program, I thought ‘This could probably work for me.’”
While De Biasio said it wasn’t always easy balancing all of her work, family and school commitments, she credits Yorkville’s flexible online course offerings and supportive faculty for her ultimate success in the “very heavy” two-year Master of Education in Educational Leadership program.
“If it wasn’t for Yorkville, I probably would not have been able to complete the program…especially with my position as a clinical project coordinator and having to travel so much,” she said, estimating she put in at least 20-25 hours of school work each week.
“With Yorkville…I was able to bring my computer, my books and everything with me on the road and just work online – it was really flexible.
“Yorkville gave me the opportunity to do (my Master’s) and coordinate my whole life around it, and I’m just so thankful to everybody from the administration, to the faculty, to the other people in the program.”
