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MATC
To Graduate 2,009 Students at Spring
Commencement Ceremony
Madison
Area Technical College (MATC) will recognize 2,009 graduates, an increase
of nearly 14 percent from last year’s 1,766 graduates, at its spring
commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 17, 2003. The ceremony begins at
10 am at the Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum at the Alliant Energy Center
located just off John Nolen Drive in Madison. The graduating class includes
students from MATC’s Madison campus, as well as its Fort Atkinson,
Portage, Reedsburg and Watertown campuses.
Speakers
include Kenneth Brittingham, MATC District Board member; Dr. Beverly Simone,
MATC president; and Sara Abozeid, who will present the graduate address.
Abozeid is a Waterloo resident and will graduate from the MATC Biotechnology
Laboratory Technician Program with an associate degree.
Abozeid,
a merit scholar of both the Wisconsin Laboratory Association and the Evjue
Foundation, has been conducting independent research while at MATC on
orchid cloning. She has presented other research at two national science
conferences and may present at a conference in Australia. She is currently
vice president of the MATC’s Biotechnology Laboratory Technician
Club, a peer tutor and a volunteer fundraiser for WAGS, the Wisconsin
Academy of Graduate Service Dogs, an organization devoted to training
service dogs for people with disabilities.
Says
Abozeid, “I want to urge incoming students not to come to college
with blinders on. When I first came to MATC, I thought I’d sit in
class, listen to lectures and go home each day, but there is so much more
if you are open to it. Take advantage of everything offered within the
campus walls because there are endless opportunities available here.”
Abozeid
has been accepted at theUW–Madison and plans to continue her studies
in biological sciences.
Among
the many students graduating will be a Ft. Atkinson mother-daughter team.
Karen Albrecht and her daughter, Tiffany, will graduate with associate
degrees from MATC’s Early Childhood Education Program. Karen’s
other daughter, Teresa Traxler, graduated from the same program five years
ago. All three women are working in the day care field.
Karen
Albrecht says she credits her daughters’ interests in the field to
allowing them to visit her on the job when she worked at the Ft. Atkinson
Community Daycare Center. As teenagers, both volunteered and later worked
at the center. While attending core program classes at MATC’s Downtown
Madison location, the Albrechts took advantage of evening classes that
would work around their schedules and completed general education classes
closer to home at the MATC–Ft. Atkinson campus.
“I’m
very proud to go through this graduation sitting next to my daughter,”
says Albrecht. “My college experience was not without hard work and
sacrifice but it felt like the right time to pursue my degree. This is
a good career choice for my daughters, and I found it to be a good move
for me, too.”
Adds,
Tiffany, “Since we were part-time students, it was nice to see each
other when we took classes together. For me, while I had my CDA [Child
Development Associate creditial], I thought why not step up and go for
my associate degree. I learned a lot, and I feel now my decision was well
worth it.”
At the
commencement ceremony MATC also will honor three faculty members—
English instructor Sonja Hansard-Weiner, Spanish instructor Jo Ann (Jody)
Thrush and business instructor Mark Finger. Each will receive MATC’s
Distinguished Teacher Award for 2003.
Another
honoree, undergraduate Liberal Studies Program student Shelby Sherry,
will be named MATC’s Student Ambassador. She will represent the college
throughout the community as part of the Wisconsin Technical College System
State Ambassador Program. A writer and copy editor for the college newspaper,
The Clarion, and president of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, Sherry
teaches writing at Emerson Elementary and plans to continue her education
in education and library science.
MATC
is one of the largest of the Wisconsin Technical College System’s
16 colleges and serves about 50,000 students each year. It provides a
comprehensive curriculum of technical, liberal arts and science, adult
basic education and life enrichment studies and activities, as well as
customized employee training. MATC provides training in more than 100
career programs. It awards associate degrees, vocational diplomas and
certificates, and offers non-degree courses. The college serves all or
parts of 12 counties located in south-central Wisconsin and offers instruction
through five campuses and various other locations throughout the district.
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Last
Modified:
May 8, 2003
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