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Classes, apprenticeship & SGA
Nathanael Hayford has become a very successful juggler.
In high school, he took 15 hours of dual credit classes through Black Hawk College and ran track for two years. In June 2024, the same month he graduated from United Township High School, he began an apprenticeship as a software engineer at John Deere.
Two months later, he became a full-time Black Hawk College student and quickly dove into Student Government Association activities at the Quad-Cities Campus.
“I thought it was a really unique opportunity to have the leadership experience,” he said.
Through SGA, he participated in leadership trainings, helped with a roadside cleanup, made tie blankets for a local nonprofit and painted pumpkins with nursing home residents, all in addition to regular weekly SGA meetings.
Nathanael and fellow SGA members before a roadside cleanup in April 2025.
“I’m grateful for the Student Government Association,” he said. “Even though we did work for the college, this organization was very good about making that work fun.”
And he did all of it while taking 15-16 hours each semester and working 20 hours a week at his John Deere apprenticeship.
“I didn’t think I’d be that busy,” he said.
Time management
As a result, one important lesson he had to learn was time management.
“I struggled a lot with time management,” he said. “With my many commitments, my schedule became incredibly dense, so it became increasingly difficult to manage my tasks effectively.”
But he found help on campus.
“The various tutors and advisors I had while I was on campus were an instrumental part of my success, helping me work through my struggles with methods of time management that still help me today,” he said.
Nathanael participated in TRIO Student Support Services. TRIO offers one-on-one advising, workshops and other services to help low-income students, first-generation college students and students with disabilities succeed in college.
“Black Hawk College provided the college academic experience while also providing more than enough resources for success through it,” he said.
Nathanael and fellow SGA members donating tie blankets that they made to Argrow’s House in April 2025.
Goals + stress = Success
Nathanael at Black Hawk College Quad-Cities Campus Commencement in May 2026.
Nathanael said that since starting at Black Hawk College, he has become a lot more goal-oriented in his perseverance to learn as much as possible.
He completed his Associate in Arts in December 2025 and transferred to Augustana College where he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in computer science. He returned to BHC in May 2026 to walk in the Quad-Cities Campus Commencement Ceremony.
“I also have learned to appreciate not only the accomplishments, but the stresses, as both make up part of my ever-evolving journey.
“In the land of success, all the toils and struggles along the way will seem nothing,” he said. “After all, ‘rain is born in jagged, ragged, lightning, strowed thundering skies.’”
