Editor's note: This is the third in a series of stories profiling nontraditional students in the region who have gone back to school to "work smarter."
At 18, Alexis Vazquez Dedelow thought she knew everything.
Instead of accepting a scholarship to attend Purdue University in West Lafayette, she married and started a family. Six years later, she was a divorced mother with a young son to raise.
Dedelow said she worked evenings as a waitress and bartender so she could spend the days with her son.
Soon, Dedelow realized she had to do something different -- she had to work smarter to achieve her goals.
"I realized I needed an education and a better salary," she said.
Dedelow started school at Purdue University Calumet a year after her divorce and eventually became a secretary in the Lake County court system.
Dedelow was a part-time student holding down a full-time job.
During that time, Dedelow also remarried and gave birth to a second child during midterms. She earned her first degree in political science, graduating with highest distinction in 1994.
As she worked in the courts, Dedelow, 46, developed an interest in the judicial system and took the LSATS while seven months pregnant with her third child.
But she put off law school for a while because she had a husband, a teenage son, a 2-year-old child and an infant.
In 1997, she began her journey for a law degree and was accepted into five schools. Dedelow attended John Marshall Law School in Chicago, completing the program in five years.
"I didn't talk to my children or hardly see my husband for two months while I studied for the bar. I passed it the first time," she said with a grin.
It was a proud day for Dedelow, her parents and all of her family when she was sworn in as an Indiana lawyer in September 2003. However, Dedelow's career took a slight detour when she and her husband bought WJOB radio station in Hammond. She is the CEO of Vazquez Development, a family owned company. The Dedelows also own Calumet Press, formerly a weekly newspaper that now is an online product called heyregion.com.
Dedelow's responsibilities include everything from contract law to writing and cutting commercials.
A year ago, Dedelow joined Hammond-based Bosch & Banasiak, practicing criminal defense -- a field she enjoys.
"I feel like I was very fortunate to be located in an area where there are so many wonderful college opportunities out there without having to leave home," she said.
