Real Students of Macomb

Danielle Madill has her hands full with two small children and the last two classes to complete before earning her associate degree in Cybersecurity from Macomb in May. But unlike most of her classmates right now, she can hone encryption techniques while watching her children play on the beach.

“It’s beautiful here. It’s sunny and in the mid-70s,” says Madill, who lives in Florida and appreciates the sand, saltwater fishing – she caught a stingray, after all – and a sunny climate that allows her to indulge in another of her favorite pastimes whenever she can. “A good run,” she offers, “always sets the mood for the day.”

A graduate of L’Anse Creuse North High School, Madill is Macomb County born and raised. The move to Florida came courtesy of the U.S. Navy, in which her husband Jason is on active duty. Wearied by the stress of transferring to another college every time Jason was transferred [CJ1] to another location, Madill decided to enroll in the online Cybersecurity program at Macomb.

“My motto is: ‘I don’t know where I’m going,’” says Madill, “’but I know where I can be.’”

It’s no coincidence that Madill’s mom works in the information security field. Persuaded by her depiction of the challenges and rewards of the job, Madill enrolled in her first Information Technology class.

“It was an ‘ah ha’ moment,” relates Madill.  “It took me a while to find my interest, what I wanted to major in, so this was a big relief for me.”

Madill now intends on pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology degree at Walsh[CJ2] , with plans on a career in risk management or as a security analyst. Her interest in these fields was stirred by her current participation in the National Cyber League competition, which is required in one of her classes.

“I have to give credit to my professor, Keith Nabozny. He is excellent at teaching the material and pushing you to figure out the answer while providing constructive criticism,” says Madill. “I have also had the pleasure of collaborating with my fellow classmates on several group assignments.”

Madill does, indeed, enjoy spending time at one of the beaches near her home in Pensacola with children Mackenzie, 9, and Jayden, 12. Her family’s days in Florida, however, are numbered.

“I wish we could stay, says Madill. “We don’t know my husband’s official orders yet, but we will be moving sometime soon.”

But just as the digital world has kept her tethered to her studies at Macomb, it also provides a welcomed constant in her movable life.

“No matter where I live,” she offers, “I can always go home.”

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As paths go, it was a “winding” one that led David McCallum back to Macomb after his first unsuccessful try following post high school-receipt of a G.E.D. The second time around, however, he has earned certificates in Manufacturing Essentials and CATIA, computer aided design (CAD) and manufacturing software, and will complete his associate degree in mathematics in May with a 3.96 grade point average.

“I have experienced that a life after addiction is possible,” says McCallum, who is marking the fourth year in recovery after being addicted to alcohol and prescribed opioids since high school. “The reality of substance abuse is that it is a treatable disease, not a moral failing. I believe supporting people in recovery is not helping bad people become good, but helping sick people get better.”

His own recovery led him to Macomb’s M-TEC, which offers short-term Workforce and Continuing Education training. From there, McCallum was hired by Custom Biogenic Systems, where he uses his CAD knowledge to assist in the design of climate-sensitive containers used by scientific and research laboratories.

“My completion of the certificate program at M-TEC qualified me for an entry-level engineering role as a CAD technician,” relates McCallum. “My employer provided tuition assistance and encouraged me to seek a degree program at Macomb that would lead to a mechanical engineering path.”

That path led McCallum to Oakland University (OU), where he is the first recipient of its Frontline Workers Scholarship, receiving a Presidential Transfer Award as well.

“With the scholarships I have been awarded, in addition to my employer’s help,” says McCallum, “I have an amazing opportunity to continue my education at OU debt free.”

McCallum appreciates that his math professors “have been very thorough and created an atmosphere for me to succeed.” He calls out Dave Friday, his calculus professor, and Leanna Allvin, Special Services counselor, for also making his experience at Macomb a positive one.   Since the college shutdown, all of McCallum’s classes have been online. And while he feared online learning might make his life difficult, with the help of tutors, he found the opposite true instead.

“I am glad that so many virtual classes are offered online,” he says. “The flexibility has made it easier for me to work full-time while continuing my education.”

McCallum’s path straightened at Custom Biogenic Systems, where he hopes to obtain an engineering position once he completes his bachelor’s degree. And he appreciates the guideposts provided by education, exercise, meditation and reading that helped get him there.

“With completion of my associate degree in sight, along with a transfer plan at OU,” says McCallum, “I have the foundation for a career path I am really looking forward to.”   

Samuel Williams began exploring his career options in high school. The 2020 Center Line High School graduate took graphic design and art classes, was a member of the Robotics Club and attended a Summer Career Academy in Information Technology (IT) at Macomb. Winning the design contest for his high school’s 2020 yearbook, however, made his pathway clear.

“Making ideas into reality out of nothing is what excites me,” says Williams.

A student in Macomb’s Media and Communication Arts 3D Animation program, Williams is looking forward to giving depth to his two-dimensional drawings and watching them come alive in a digital environment. He had hoped for on-campus instruction but says he is adapting well to online classes.

“I never thought I would be attending college on Zoom,” he admits. “However, I really like it.  My professors and classmates make it more enjoyable.”

Williams is all too familiar with how the pandemic has disrupted education, but his family has consistently been there with moral support, and then some. When his high school commencement was cancelled because of COVID, his parents and brothers went all out to gift him with a ceremony to remember. They built a stage on their front lawn, which their youngest son helped construct unaware that he would soon walk across it. Rising above the stage was the traditional proscenium arch painted in his high school’s colors of orange and black. Pomp and Circumstance played in the background as Williams accepted his diploma from his father.

“I really appreciated what they did,” Williams told the Macomb Daily, which covered the ceremony in June. “I am very grateful.”    

By the time of that DIY-commencement, Williams had decided to enroll in Macomb’s MACA program since South Campus was close to home and he had already visited it on “multiple field trips.” One of those field trips was to attend a Discover Macomb event (which will be held virtually over six sessions this year: March 16 – April 1) with his brother when Williams was junior.

“That really did it for me,” he says.

Similarly, his MACA classes are affirming his career choice.

“I believe media and communication arts is the wave of the future, and it can help in other industries – music production, sound engineering, TV, film, and editing and design,” relates Williams. “Once I graduate with my degree, I plan on pursuing a position producing animated shorts or in game design.”

Many political careers have started humbly at the grassroots level and that would be just fine for one Macomb student, propelled by the pandemic to seek election this year to his local school board.  

“I saw the direct impact the board had on my education,” says Sellers, who graduated from L’Anse Creuse High School North this past summer. “I was specifically disappointed in the board’s actions during COVID, delaying graduation ceremonies until August, while all the other surrounding districts graduated in June. I vowed to make sure the current senior class would not have to go through what I went through.”

Sellers’ interest in the L’Anse Creuse School Board is actually nothing new. He began following it as a freshman in high school, watching televised meetings and discussing its decisions with his mom, an elementary school teacher.  As he starts his second semester at Macomb, Sellers will begin juggling the demands of his own classes with the needs of L’Anse Creuse students when he joins the board as its newest and youngest elected trustee.

“I would like to make sure that we begin to spend money on all students. In the age of COVID, our families need the support more than ever before,” says Sellers. “I (also) want to recruit and retain our high-quality support staff and teachers. They are asked to work more than ever right now, and we need to make sure they are incentivized to want to work in L’Anse Creuse.”

By the time his six-year term on the school board is over, Sellers will be 24 and, in his words, “two years removed from college.”  He is currently deciding between majoring in political science or business, with plans to transfer to Wayne State University or Oakland University to earn a bachelor’s degree. 

“I wanted this position because I wanted to help the kids in the schools,” says Sellers. “However, this seems like a natural stepping stone for higher office. It could mean more local politics, or a county or state seat. The way I look at it, local government impacts my day-to-day life much more often than the feds do.”

Sellers’ energy extends beyond the political arena as well. He is a self-proclaimed “sports fanatic,” who roots for the Tigers, Lions and Pistons. Preferably, in person when that is again possible. He is a tennis player and coach, and works at Peachtree Tennis Club.  With all that’s going on in his life, he’s appreciative of the assistance and flexibility that Macomb has provided.

“Macomb has been great in assisting me with my class registration so I take classes that will transfer,” says Sellers. “With board responsibilities growing with COVID issues, my classes being online will allow me to be closer to the board office and the schools, where I would like to make sure I am a consistent face.” 

Fighting through language barriers, societal gender inequality norms and even the COVID-19 pandemic, Tasneem Alahmadi, 22, has not only survived but thrived in her studies. One of eight children, Alahmadi’s family emigrated from the Middle East country of Yemen 10 years ago. Upon arrival in the States, the pre-teen had no experience with the English language. Yet, within six months she learned the basics and began to speak it.

After completing middle school at Bridge Academy West, Alahmadi began high school at Frontier International Academy, in Detroit. By the time she graduated in 2017, she had the distinction of being named an honor roll student each year in attendance.

At the recommendation of several of her siblings, Alahmadi came to Macomb to further her education. Two of her brothers studied at Macomb and have transferred, while another brother and sister are currently attending. Three of her siblings are pursuing medical-related degrees, and Tasneem is also following this path. But for Alahmadi, who hopes to be accepted into Wayne State University’s nursing program, the path forward wasn’t always certain.

“I used to be lost and not sure what [my] major will be,” recounts Alahmadi. “But, as you seek counseling in Macomb and you seek Career Services, they will help you know what you want to be in life.”

Also compounding matters was pressure stemming from the cultural norms in Alahmadi’s home country.

“As a woman, especially from an Arab background, they would prefer the women not to continue [their] education,” notes Alahmadi. “So many people tried to stop me.”

While keeping students on track takes a campus-wide effort involving faculty, staff and leadership from many departments, Alahmadi credits one individual specifically with giving her the motivation she needed to continue, even when she felt like giving up. That person is Daniel Thurman, associate dean of Student Success.

“I went through a very hard time, and I thought I’m not good enough. And I had all that negativity in my brain ‘til I met Mr. Thurman,” relates Alahmadi. “He gives me advice to improve, and when I [was] also overwhelmed with school and about to give up, he inspired me […] to finish the road I started.”

That road, the path forward, includes a first-hand experience with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I was recommended to tutor psychology,” tells Alahmadi, “and the day I was going to do that […], COVID happened.”

And then Alahmadi contracted the virus. Thankfully, with the flexibility of online classes and the support of the college, she was able to persist. Further help from Daniel Thurman ensured she was granted an extension on her final exams so she could complete her semester while recovering.

“I was very happy [with] how things went very smoothly for me,” says Alahmadi, as a “student that went from [on-campus] classes to online and also having COVID.”

Unlike Rusty Griswold in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, A.J. Vultaggio volunteered to take over his family’s outside holiday decorating duties at the age of 14.  

“My parents love to come out and see all the decorations up,” says Vultaggio, who is majoring in manufacturing engineering technology and product development at Macomb. “I know they have said, ‘Instead of doing drugs or playing video games, he decorates.’”

This year’s Halloween display, spanning his family’s home as well as those of two neighbors, stopped passersby (including a Macomb Township Chronicle photographer and reporter) in their tracks. He has also created displays featuring the Easter Bunny, Uncle Sam and a proud pilgrim of a turkey. But Vultaggio labors the most over the one undertaken the weekend after Thanksgiving that transforms the front lawn of his family’s Macomb Township home into a wonderland as dazzling as anything found at the North Pole.

“I put all of the decorations from lights to yard ornaments (for three houses) up myself.  It takes countless hours, but it is completely worth it,” says Vultaggio, “Whenever I am not at work or doing school work, I can always be found outside decorating.”

As much as holiday decorating is a family tradition, so, too, is Macomb. Vultaggio’s mother Melanie earned an associate of applied science in nursing and physical therapy and dad Andy, as well as an uncle, earned associate of applied science degrees from the college, while his maternal grandfather taught special machine design. 

“I was interested in going to Macomb for many years and had heard very good things about its engineering programs,” says Vultaggio, who graduated from L’Anse Creuse High School North last June. “My experience so far has gone very smoothly.”

Also “smooth” are the edges his grandfather taught him to hone in the workshop where they huddled together over woodworking projects, with Vultaggio beginning his apprenticeship at the age of six.

“My nonno (grandfather in Italian) spent countless hours teaching me how to scroll saw, carve and paint,” relates Vultaggio. “The two of us would spend as much time as we could together. We enjoyed each other’s company and we were always working on some type of project, which usually had something to do with Christmas.”

A quarter of the decorations that grace his family’s home, which Vultaggio shares with his seven-year-old sister, parents and grandmother, are of his own design. For inspiration, he takes trips to Frankenmuth whenever he has the chance.

“Other than Bronner’s, I get a lot of my ideas yearlong while daydreaming about my plans for the next season,” offers Vultaggio. “Christmas has always played such a big role in my life and while I am decorating, it brings back a lot of wonderful memories that I have made with my parents and grandparents.”