Community Corner
Wilmette Resident to Deliver Oakton Commencement Address
Wilmette resident Susan Trieschmann, a distinguished alumna of Oakton, will deliver the college's May 16 commencement address.
Wilmette resident Susan Trieschmann, founder and executive director of Evanston-based Curt’s Café, will deliver Oakton Community College’s May 16 commencement address. She is a distinguished alumna of Oakton.
Trieschmann and four others were honored by the Oakton Alumni Association as the inaugural class of distinguished alumni during a May 3 ceremony at the college.
Prior to enrolling at Oakton at the age of 48, Trieschmann had been the head of catering at Chicago’s Pump Room and the co-founder of Food for Thought—the third largest caterer in Chicagoland—with her sister, Nancy, and brother-in-law, Curt.
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“I was telling our kids at the time that they had to apply for college to get ahead,” Trieschmann recalls, noting she felt like a hypocrite in that she had not attended college. “I chose Oakton because it was close to where I worked, and I chose my first classes because they were offered during my lunch break.”
She was hooked, and with the support of Oakton faculty and counselors, she was walking through the graduation ceremony two years later.
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“With the support of everyone at Oakton, I had faced my fear of being too dumb to be in school and became a straight-A student, graduating with honors,” Trieschmann says. “It was here at Oakton that the seed was planted, where I was supported by professionals who loved their jobs and showed it every day…”
After Oakton, she earned a bachelor’s degree in social justice from DePaul and is now providing workforce and life-skills training for at-risk youth at Curt’s Café. Her work has brought recognition as a L’Oréal Paris Woman of Worth, 2014 Illinois Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers Public Citizen of the Year, Open Communities Jean R. Cleland Social Action Award recipient and the Corrine Passage Spirit of Evanston Award winner.
“At Curt’s, my dream is to have every one of our students come to Oakton and have the same experience I did,” Trieschmann adds. “I want each and every one of them to feel the power of education so they, too, can build the stepping stones of their success.”
