Okay so I kid about the headline. I’m not the type that watched “Dirty Dancing” and/or sang with Jennifer Warnes or Bill Medley. I’m going to give a little low-down of my experience here at MATC.

It was interesting to say the very least. Given that I’m a little bit older (and for those of you who know my real age, shhhh), it was a different kind of experience going back to school.
I remember my first day of class like it was yesterday (so cliché). It was an English Class. I didn’t have any idea of what it would be like, but my only hopes were that it wouldn’t be anything like High School. It wasn’t. It was very structured and I liked it.

Soon thereafter, there were experiences in other classes that kind of reminded me of High School, but I dealt with it. The following semesters proved to be just as interesting.

I’ve met a lot of people throughout my experience here. Some individuals stayed, some went, and some transferred. Throughout this experience these individuals have helped change my thinking process. There are individuals that I have become friends with and then there are people that I’m “friends” with on Facebook. I don’t regret anybody that I have come across since my time here began.

I know that certain individuals here are my true friends because I have argued with, not spoken to, made up with and am graduating with. I will treasure the times with these individuals for the rest of my life (sorry I had to get mushy, but you all know who you are). There will be people that I stay in contact with and there will be people that I “un-friend” on Facebook.

Don’t get me wrong, I love these individuals, but I have to do a special “shout-out” to the staff and instructors who I have met and appreciated as well. I can’t tell you where I would be without the certain teaching styles of each instructor. I don’t like to name drop, but I’m hoping that these instructors won’t mind the fact that I’m putting their names in this “Opinion” piece (and for the other instructors who aren’t being mentioned in here, it’s not that I don’t appreciate you either, but I do have only a certain amount of space that I can put in here, even though I am the Editor-in-Chief).
Let me start with the instructor who has had the biggest impact on me since I’ve started here. That would be Ms. Sandra Chavez (and my classmates better not give me a hard time for mentioning her, I don’t have to “kiss up” anymore since I’m graduating). Ms. Chavez is a great instructor who had to read my papers, which were around 8 pages at a time. For that, she deserves an award. Not everyone liked her teaching style, but I’m a very structured person and I believe that she worked with everyone’s writing and learning styles. For that, I thank her.

I won’t continue to blubber about all of my instructors, but there are a few that I would like to acknowledge: Mr. Charlie Dee (didn’t like him, but appreciated his teaching style) and Dr. Marlene Dombrowski (let the class get out of hand sometimes, but I learned nonetheless). I know not all of my classmates may agree with these individuals, but these were the individuals that had the greatest impact (again, don’t be mad if your name is incorporated here).

There are other individuals who should be recognized, but they’re kind of shy so I’ll just use the same parentheses and put in there first name so as to not embarrass them. They are (Bob, Archie, Brenda, Tina, Heidi and Jerry).

So overall, the experience has been great. I didn’t always look at how other classmates viewed things in a positive way, but I learned from other people’s experience. I’m looking forward to what the next journey may be (I’m continuing on to another school). I know I use parentheses a lot, and that’s one thing I think that all of my English instructors would scold me for, but hey this is my last time contributing anything to the Times so I don’t have anything to worry about anyway.

Congratulations to all of the individuals who are graduating, and good luck to those who are continuing their education here at MATC.