Real Students of Macomb

Leslie Borst loves tinkering with code, and has learned a fair bit about it through experimentation. But, for most of Borst’s life, her passion was art. She attended the Art Institute of Phoenix for two-and-a-half years, taking a full class load while also working part time.

“I’ve heard a lot of criticism over the years about art students supposedly having it easy, because they’re just studying art and drawing all day,” says Borst. She reasons that this is a misconception, because a serious art student spends “between 40 and 60 hours per week, just in homework assignments.”

The workload tempered Borst’s excitement for art, but it was ultimately the prohibitive cost of tuition that forced her to change course and return to Michigan. However, one of her required classes at the Art Institute ignited another passion.

“They made us take an HTML class, so we could build our own portfolio site,” explains Borst, who took this skill home and began building upon it. “I would sit on my computer for hours, just playing with the code.”

She revealed this to her mentor, Chris DeMars, senior UI developer for United Shore, who suggested that she turn this hobby into a career. Borst enrolled at Macomb in 2017 and is pursuing an Associate of Applied Science Degree in IT – Website Programming. She expects to graduate following the winter 2019 semester.

“I’ve been loving every second of it,” Borst adds. “It’s way more affordable for someone like me, who’s working and just trying to get an education.”

It was also through the encouragement of her mentor that Borst applied for and was awarded a scholarship to take part in a Grand Circus coding boot camp in Detroit, sponsored by the DEVELOP(her) program. DEVELOP(her) aims to train female developers to enter the technology workforce, a field in which women are largely underrepresented.

Borst attends the boot camp, which runs through December, three nights a week. And that’s on top of her full-time class schedule. Borst is also creating a website for a national car club, and maintains a blog detailing her experiences in development.

“I’m trying to share my story a little bit to encourage people to go to school, get an education, and go after what they really want,” relates Borst. Her goal is to “pass the knowledge on to people who are just starting out and wouldn’t know any of those things that I learned, unless they had a mentor.”

Perhaps it was the influence of his Polish mother, whose native country is known for its tea drinking culture.  Or, maybe, it was because he found coffee somewhat “boring.” But Cody Wallace, a Macomb architectural student, has been drinking tea since childhood and now he is building a subscription tea business that is besting all of his other efforts in online entrepreneurship to date.

“I didn’t have a car and was too young to work, but I had a computer,” says Wallace, who graduated from Chippewa Valley High School in 2017.  “I started out on eBay in middle school, then it was drop shipping, selling pet supplies, furniture from China and women’s clothing.  I even worked at home for Pizza Hut, taking orders from all over the country.”

Wallace launched A Taste of Tea in April with Noah Cannon, his partner and childhood friend. With no marketing other than on Instagram, the duo raised $1,000 with a Kickstarter campaign to introduce their startup to the digital marketplace.  Wallace designed the website, tasteoftea.co, and admits that visitors were few to start.  But benefitting from recent appearances at summer festivals and a write-up in The Macomb Daily, Taste of Tea is finally seeing growth in its customer base. 

“We actually ran out of supplies at the Romeo (Peach) Festival,” admits Wallace.  “It was a mess, but a good mess.”

Taste of Tea blends are made from plants farmed at offsite plantations and packaged by Wallace. He spends a few hours each evening filling orders and appreciates the freedom self-employment has given him to attend classes at Macomb. He intends to transfer to Lawrence Technological University and earn a bachelor’s degree in architecture.

“I took a lot of computer classes in high school, but didn’t like them,” says Wallace, who chose Macomb, initially for its lower tuition rate when compared to a university.  The son of two former Macomb students, he decided to stay because of the quality of its programs. “The teachers have been great and I’m glad I came. Macomb helped me figure out what I wanted to do.”

Hoping to design homes one day, Wallace believes he will still continue toward that goal even if Taste of Tea, which recently attracted a Japanese investor, takes off with pop-up stores and restaurant orders.

“So far,” says Wallace, whose favorite Taste of Tea brew is Orchard Berry, “the future looks bright.”

During four tours of combat duty in Iraq, Bobby Champagne survived two blasts from improvised explosive devices and a fall from a second-floor balcony that would lead to seven knee surgeries. After he was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), however, the U.S. Navy Seabee was ready to accept his honorable discharge. Or so he thought.

“For 15 years, I wore the same thing everyday, so just picking out an outfit was a challenge,” shares Champagne of the transition to civilian life. “Most vets don’t know what to expect when they return home. I want to help vets who are lost like I was.”

In therapy for two years, Champagne refused to take any medication to help ease the anxieties caused by PTSD.  Instead, he followed his therapist’s advice and confronted each one head on, including taking a college class to quell his uneasiness about public places.

“I did some research,” says Champagne, “and Macomb had the most veterans’ support.”

He has since become a full-time student, made the dean’s list every semester, switched his interest from social work to organizational psychology and plans to transfer to Wayne State University to earn a master’s degree.  And, he is in the process of adopting a service dog, who will stand guard against the inevitable nightmares that accompany PTSD. The Dutch shepherd, says Champagne, “will sleep by my bedside and be trained to turn on the light.”

In addition to Ramadi and Fallujah, where he led patrols, Champagne’s military career also provided opportunities to travel throughout Europe and Asia.  And for three years, he was stationed in Hawaii.

“I enlisted at 19 to see the world,” acknowledges Champagne, a New Orleans native who met his Michigan-born wife, Nichole, while he was stationed in California, where she was attending college.  “Looking back on it, my years in the service were some of the proudest of my life.  But once my son was born, my perspective changed and I was more grounded.”

Son Aiden is now 12 and daughter Olivia, 7.  Nichole works as a behavioral analyst, and Champagne credits her support and encouragement for helping him find his niche in civilian life. He also gives credit to Macomb’s Office of Veteran and Military Services, where he knows the director on a first-name basis.

“We can register for our classes there,” says Champagne, of the South and Center Campus locations that provide free resources to veterans. “They make things so much easier for us.  And you have the opportunity to meet other veterans.  It was another vet who told me about the service dog program. We already have two dogs, but he will be a nice addition to the family.”

Like many 20-year olds, Sumaiya Ferdawsi is a pro at using social media. Unlike most, however, she is tweeting to friends and family in Bangladesh, while hoping someday to work behind the scenes at one of the digital behemoths.

“We came a year ago,” says Ferdawsi, who spoke little English when she first arrived in the U.S. from the South Asian nation. “I started at Macomb 20 days after moving here. I learned the language by watching movies.”

Ferdawsi, her mom and two siblings moved from Sylhet, an urban area in northern Bangladesh, to Warren, after choosing Southeast Michigan as the U.S. region in which they wanted to relocate.  The reason for that choice was blue and gold.

“We moved here for the University of Michigan (U of M)” says Ferdawsi, who intends to major in computer engineering at U of M after transferring from Macomb, where she is taking math classes.

Ferdawsi dreams of working at Google (whose CEO attended U of M) – or Facebook or Twitter. In Bangladesh, she had passed the entrance exam at Dhaka University, known to many as the Oxford of the East, and was two months into a software engineering program when her family decided to emigrate.

“We moved here for a better life, and I like it a lot. My favorite class is calculus and Professor Musallam is a really great teacher,” says Ferdawsi.  “Macomb’s students are so friendly; they have helped me a lot.”

That’s not to say there isn’t much about her homeland that she misses.  “There is a lot of natural beauty there,” she says, counting the Bay of Bengal, the world’s longest sea beach, and the tea gardens and tropical forests in the Surma Valley, near where she grew up, among her favorites.

Ferdawsi returned to Bangladesh with her immediate family this summer to attend the wedding of her brother, a Dhaka graduate and government secretary. In traditional fashion, the ladies decorated their arms and hands with elaborate henna tattoos and the bride wore red. Her henna tattoo had not yet faded when Ferdawsi brought her dad (newly emigrated) to visit the office of College Advancement and Community Relations at South Campus. She also brought gifts for those who provided mentoring during her work-study assignment last semester, which she will repeat in the fall.

“With work-study, my schedule is arranged around my classes so I can easily maintain my classes and my job. It saves me time and helps me gain career experience,” says Ferdawsi.  “The campus is so big, but everyone at the College is so kind. And now I have a lot of friends here and in Bangladesh, too.”

Jarod Baker is a self-described people person with boundless energy and a talent for singing and making friends.  All of that comes into play in his role as a member of the Macombers, the touring troupe that represents the College in performances and competitions across the state.

“I first heard about Macomb when I was in middle school,” says Baker. “Then I saw posters at Dakota and it was good to know that Macomb was here for me. I can say I haven’t had a bad teacher since I’ve been here. And, it has saved a lot of cash for me and my family.”

Baker enrolled at Macomb as soon as he graduated from Dakota High School in 2016.   He auditioned and earned a place on the Macombers his first year and has successfully re-auditioned twice.  He will be graduating next May and intends to pursue a degree in musical therapy.  Still, he wouldn’t mind extending his performing career for a few years or a lifetime longer.

“I would love to do professional work,” says Baker, who receives a partial scholarship in exchange for the hours he practices and performs as a Macomber. “I love doing something that I enjoy and getting paid for it.”

Baker played the French horn and euphonium (brass-wind instrument) in high school, but didn’t begin singing until his junior year.  At Macomb, he is also a member of Expressions, an a cappella ensemble that took fourth place in the Great Lakes quarterfinals of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella last February.  Both the Macombers and Expressions are under the direction of Todd Moses, one of Baker’s teachers at Dakota before he joined the faculty at Macomb.

“It’s comfortable here, and I have been very inspired,” says Baker.  “The Macombers are like a family. I enjoy the music and the people, and I have learned a lot.”

But an even greater joy comes when the houselights go down and Baker reaches out in song to an audience inside a darkened auditorium.  That’s when he connects with his muse and belts out the set playlist, with Flat Foot Floogie among his favorites

“Performing on stage is exhilarating and I love it,” says Baker. “It has taught me to believe in myself.”

James Radjewski graduated high school three years ago and is already managing computer networks and maintaining servers for a Fortune 500 company after Macomb’s Career Services placed him there on a cooperative education (co-op) assignment.

“My co-op placement was a risk for me to take because I knew I would be jumping into more than just networking,” says Radjewski, a student in Macomb’s Information Technology – Networking Specialist program. “Thankfully, I took that chance and it has showed me career paths I did not know existed until I got behind the scenes of a large corporation.”

Radjewski is employed at Meritor, Inc., a global supplier of drivetrains, brake systems and other components for commercial vehicles.  He has been there one year and works full time with duties that include configuring, calibrating and diagnosing electrical control systems.  He is also taking evening and online classes at Macomb as he progresses towards dual associate degrees in Informational Technology and Electrical Engineering.

“I have enjoyed my time at Macomb and the opportunities it has given me to expand my knowledge in my fields and take classes that work around my schedule,” says Radjewski.  “Career Services, especially, has helped me build my resume and make myself presentable in a competitive field.”

The co-op placement that Career Services helped him secure has a notable spot on that resume. It has also given him the confidence to explore ways in which he can broaden his career expertise.

“My experience at Meritor has been amazing.  It has really showed me what it is like to be self-motivated and how to manage my career professionally and effectively,” says Radjewski.  “It has provided me a great opportunity to grow with the company and explore every avenue of my education.”

Radjewski began attending Macomb after he graduated from Lakeview High School in 2015.  He started out in Information Technology – Networking Specialist, but began adding electronics courses to the mix so he could better understand the electronic circuitry that is the backbone of automated control systems.

“I use what I was taught at Macomb every day at my job,” says Radjewski.  “I plan to increase my knowledge in my field and continue growing with Meritor. I want to continue my career with Meritor and see how far my education and experience can take me.”

Glenn McDonald’s 9 to 5 retail job provided a paycheck but little in the way of personal or professional fulfillment.  After 10 years and with the encouragement of his wife, Alison, he decided it was time to take a cue from his childhood.

“Ever since I can remember, I have always loved animals,” says McDonald. “From taking care of the frogs and toads that lived in the window wells of my parent’s house growing up, to the numerous dogs and cats we’ve had throughout the years.”

Although he hadn’t previously considered turning his passion for animals into a career, McDonald, who currently works as a server at a local country club, decided that becoming a veterinary technician was likely his calling.  He began doing research and found Macomb’s program to be well recommended, and now he knows why.

“Since my first day of class, I haven’t had one professor who hasn’t gone above and beyond in the classroom to help me or my fellow classmates in one way or another,” says McDonald, who has completed his first year in the program. “Our director, Dr. Lori, was very adamant about the opportunities that were out there for us, and to make sure we looked and applied for any or all that we could.”

The “opportunities” that McDonald references are scholarships and he has received two to help him finance his studies: the Humane Society of Macomb Veterinary Technician Scholarship and the Mulben Memorial Endowment Scholarship.

“The scholarships meant everything,” says McDonald, whose son, Elliot, will turn two in August, a month after a new baby brother or sister is born. “Our finances had taken a downturn and I was afraid I was going to have to withdraw.  The scholarships have given me the opportunity to follow my passion and dreams.”

Admitting a fondness for the bigger dog breeds, McDonald and his family currently share their home in Emmett with an English bulldog, Bernese Mountain dog and a Newfoundland, as well as a calico, a tabby and two Maine coon cats.  Both McDonald and his wife also share a dream of opening an animal rescue, nursing sick or injured animals back to health and either returning them to the wild or placing them with a loving family.

“Animals bring me incredible amounts of joy, and I truly love being around them,” says McDonald. “With the knowledge and skills I am learning in this program, we hope to one day see this dream achieved.”