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When Alfred Baca took a break from college after graduating high school, he said he intended to go back. Sixteen years later, he did.

Baca owned and operated the Village Inn restaurant on Ben Jordan for 16 years before enrolling at the University of Houston-Victoria. After three years of hard work, he will graduate Saturday with a bachelor’s degree in general business and hopes to find a full-time job, possibly in management.

“It’s one of those jobs you start when you’re in high school then you work up through management,” Baca said. “I had a good living, so I put off going to school. Sometimes when you get involved with a business, there’s not much emphasis on continuing education because you’re already there.”

Once the restaurant closed, Baca found that all the jobs he wanted required a business degree. UHV was convenient and fit his situation perfectly. He said he approached college a little differently the second time around.

“When you’re 20 years old, you feel like you have all the time in the world,” Baca said. “Now, I feel like I’m under a time crunch to get my degree and get back out there. Now I’m learning things and I think they’re applicable to what I’ve already learned and experienced.”

Baca also changed the way he interacted with professors.

“One of the bigger differences is that I actually try to engage more dialogue with the instructors,” Baca said. “When I was younger, I would not think of tutoring because it’s like you’re not smart enough. But when I went into business for myself, I learned lots of people have more information than you. You just have to ask and be willing to share what you know with others.”

The biggest challenge of going back to school full time was time management and making sure class work was done on time, Baca said.

“The hardest thing is just staying on top of assignments,” Baca said. “It was just a matter of doing the work and budgeting your time. You’ve got to take all your classes seriously.”

During the past year, Baca worked part time at the academic center, UHV’s resource center that offers resources like writing assistance, testing and subject-area tutoring, which helped him with his own studies.

“The academic center is like the shining jewel of UHV,” Baca said. “I learned so much more about writing and that helped me improve my own when it came time for research papers. I was working but I was learning a lot at the same time.”

The School of Business Administration recognized Baca’s work by picking him as the top bachelor’s degree candidate for the spring semester. Baca has been a strong student academically and was the top student in the undergraduate business program at the fall BBA conference based on his performance in an oral presentation and written case study, said Rhiannon Smith, international student services coordinator for the school.

“That was a boost,” Baca said. “I think I needed that to finish this last semester.”

Some of Baca’s family and friends will attend the commencement ceremony on Saturday and a reception at his house.