Nikki Hall

Over the last nearly four years, Franklin native and current Northern Pennsylvania Regional College (NPRC) business administration student, Nikki Hall, has showcased incredible growth in her career.

All it took was one opportunity in 2021, helping her sister Traci with her salon business, to find her passion.

For many years, Hall’s career was as a stay-at-home mom and homeschool teacher for her three children. As her children grew into adolescence and young adulthood, Hall branched out and volunteered to assist her sister with some business-related tasks for her beauty shop, DC Salon, LLC, to supplement some income for her family. It started out with learning QuickBooks for payroll and transactions but then grew into her learning about licensing, purchasing, and even grants and loans. It was through these administrative tasks that she fell in love with working in business.

“For years, I wasn’t very great at math,” Hall explained. “But when I had to teach my three kids about math as their homeschool teacher, that’s when it cemented for me — I like working with numbers.”

Hall has continued from there working as both a finance assistant for a local parish and now as an Office Manager at Huff – Guthrie Funeral Home & Cremation Services, Inc. This business is owned by her brother-in-law, Adam, and has become an environment where she blends her skills with numbers and true passion for serving others.

“Serving others is where my heart is,” said Hall. “If I can continue working in roles that blend working with numbers and helping people, I think that would be something special for myself in my career.”

To continue progressing, Hall knew she needed additional education and online resources to build on her skills. She completed some online certifications, including one in Microsoft Excel, that have been very useful for her both in the field and as a now college student at NPRC. Ultimately, she knew that earning a college degree would be a great way to build well-rounded skills in business. She considered online options and a few local in-person opportunities. However, the convenience of NPRC having a location in her hometown and the affordability it presented made it the best option.

“I watch the Andy Griffith Show most nights, and I noticed that commercials for NPRC were popping up during this. That was probably as far back as five years ago, but it intrigued me. That was around the first time I was thinking about going back to college. The more I investigated NPRC, the more the school became attractive to me.”

Out of high school, Hall initially attended Butler County Community College for nursing. After around a year in, she knew that working in the medical field was not her truest passion and decided to make a change. This was around the time she entered a relationship with her now husband of over 22 years, Joe. She became a wife and mother not long after and invested in this part of her life whole-heartedly for the last two-plus decades.

Taking this step to return to college earlier this summer has been life-changing. It’s been a step towards fulfilling the incredible potential she has in business and continuing to learn both in the field and classroom at the same time. Hall enrolled in her first college course this summer and started her time at NPRC on a solid note with a high grade. This fall, she’s enrolled in six courses and is a full-time student who hopes to graduate in 2026.

“I admit I was terrified at first and especially starting with an English course. I didn’t remember how to make citations and there’s also some fear around accidentally plagiarizing. But I completed the course with almost a 100 percent. There was a lot of time and effort put into doing my best.”

The welcoming and supportive environment, as well as the knowledgeable, passionate instructors, have been two of the more impressive parts of her time as an NPRC student.

“It’s turned out to be not as scary as I was making it out to be,” she said. “My instructors are down-to-earth, everyday people who are fun, engaging, and really want us to succeed. They’ve shown amazing passion, and it makes for a great environment to learn in. Something else that’s been great is having an advisor like Laurel Lucas. She has assisted with making sure I’m getting my finances in order to pay and making sure I was ready to take six courses. She’s been incredible in helping me in a few different ways.”

Lucas shared some perspective on the person and student Hall has been in her time at Northern Pennsylvania Regional College.

“As an advisor, Nikki is a dream student. She is driven, she knows how to self-advocate, and goes above and beyond in all aspects of her life. NPRC is lucky to have a student like Nikki; I see a very bright future ahead for her.”

Her supporters at home, including her husband Joe, her three children, and her mom, have also been so proud that Hall’s taken this step in her life and for her career. She and her oldest son are both college students at the same time and are certainly inspiring each other to continue doing their best as they work to complete their coursework and build on their careers.

“My husband has been amazing with picking up some extra work around the house. My life right now is work, school, study, and assisting my daughter with homeschool. There’s no way I could do this without my husband. He’s an amazing partner and person.”

She continued, “I also don’t know where I’d be without the support of my mom. She’s exceptional at grammar and read over my papers for my English class. I value her thoughts and wisdom so much. As for my kids, they’re all awesome. Each one of them is there cheering me on.”

A lot has changed in the last four years for Nikki Hall in her career and educational journey. These opportunities are ones she does not take for granted and acknowledges what God has planned for her.

“There’s always going to be ups and downs through everything, but I know these last four years especially have been God-led. He opened my sister’s mind and heart to give me an opportunity to help in her business. From there, so many amazing opportunities have followed and my passion for business has been discovered. I feel so blessed.”

The Venango County native has had a non-traditional path to business and to NPRC, but she hopes others may see her story and be inspired to do amazing things and live a life of serving others, too.

“You can do it” is my message to anyone who’s considering coming to NPRC or even starting something new. This is a place for everyone. The instructors and staff are here to help and support you. What do you have to lose?”