LINKS

Honestly, Michigan Technological University was my last choice.  I was intimidated by the weather, the distance from home, the location, and mostly by other people’s stories of the place.  I could write a book with all the different stories that I heard during my college selection process.  One of my favorites is the stories of how people in Houghton place tennis ball on their antennas to locate their cars because of the amount of the snow they get each year.  So, Michigan Tech just wasn’t an option.
My father thought I was completely insane to come to Michigan Tech.  He actually collected as many stories as he could to make my selection process easier.  But somehow, all the stories were about how bad Michigan Tech was.  He always started with the same sentence: “The son of a friend that is a friend of a friend of mine went to Michigan Tech about two years ago…?”  You can imagine the rest.  Now, I think he is happy about my selection because he knows all of the great things I have done in only one year at Tech.  However, he still jokes about the distance and the advantages I would have had if I was close to home.

I graduated from high school in June, 2006.  I went to East Kentwood High School, where I graduated with full honors and an impressive 4.0 Grade Point Average.  I could’ve going to any university I wanted, but I was intimidated by the size of the universities and the language barrier.  I wanted a little more time to understand the culture and language before I took one of the biggest steps of my life: university.  So, I attended Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC), where I received an Associate’s Degree in Science.  I met an unbelievable person during my years in GRCC: Mrs. Clark. Ana Maria Clark is a student advisor at GRCC; she has shaped my life completely and has helped me come out of my shell.  You will know her if you are Hispanic and coming from GRCC. Mrs. Clark was the first person that made me think seriously about the steps necessary to achieve my goals.  She showed me all my options and helped me become the person I am now.  However, every time we talked about transferring to a four-year program university the conversations ended up in Michigan Tech.

I was thinking about going to Western Michigan University, but I wasn’t thrilled about the idea.  It was more like a back-up plan.  My brother, Sammy A. Publes, went to WMU so that was the only university that I felt I had a connection with.  It is not a bad university, but I couldn’t see myself there.  But, I thank my brother for all the support he has always given me.  He drove me to the college’s tours and more importantly, he didn’t have that “son of a friend that is a friend of a friend of his” to talk about.  He just wanted me to be successful after college.

I was near graduation and I didn’t have a place to go after I graduated. During the winter of 2005, Mrs. Clark made me an irresistible offer that completely changed my life.  She talked to me about a wonderful summer program named Michigan College and University Partnership (MICUP) for minorities that gives them the chance to go to a 4-year university for the summer, work with a professor doing research while getting paid about fifteen hundred dollars for seven weeks.  You read the right amount; it was fifteen with two zeros at the end.  It may not sound a lot for many people, but it was a fortune for me at that time.  I was very interested in the program and the many opportunities that came with it.  I was ready to ask her for the application, but she mentioned the location: Michigan Tech.  I actually experienced slow motion while I was reading the name from her lips.  I thought Mrs. Clark was trying to get me to the last place I wanted to be: MTU.  But, I was wrong.  She wanted to show me that the great opportunities that Michigan Tech had, and more importantly that Michigan Tech was the right place for me.

It took me about three weeks to decide if I wanted to apply to MICUP.  There were a lot of thoughts in my head during those three weeks.  I wanted the experience of an internship, and it was really hard to say no to the money.  I also wanted to get away from Grand Rapids for a little bit, but not that far.  One negative fact about the program was that I had to drop out from a baseball team that I tried really hard to get in. I went to Mrs. Clark’s office about two times per week to talk about that program.  I was looking for the fascinating and unique part of coming to Houghton.  But I never found it, because there is nothing fascinating and unique a out Houghton.  It was a city like any other, but ten times smaller. I reached a decision after couple of sessions with Mrs. Clark and a thousand times of laying out the advantages and disadvantages of going to this program.  I said to myself, “It is just seven weeks”.  So I applied and successfully manage to be selected as one of the participants.

I arrived in Houghton in early May.  It was going well until I say the airport.  Many people joke about the airport because it is seriously a drive way with security.  That was not a positive thing.  Minutes after I landed I found the other disappointed fact of Houghton:  Nextel cell phones don’t work here.  Guess what?  I had a Nextel Cell Phone. The drive from the airport to campus was really nice.  I had the opportunity to the meet the other students participating in the program.  And the city wasn’t as bad as I thought.  I was expecting horses and the whole country image. 

Overall, Michigan Tech wasn’t all I thought it was.  For some reason, the people in this city are nicer that the people living in big cities.  Maybe those in the big cities are busier or they just don’t want to be nice.  People here take their time to help you if you need help.  They haven’t lost their good manners (many have a habit of saying good morning/afternoon/evening if you meet them), and for some reason they look more interested in what you say. I was wrong in many different ways.  I learned many things while participating in that program.  I learned about Michigan Tech curriculum and the many opportunities that they offer.  I was also embraced by the Hispanic community at Tech.  Those seven weeks felt like an hour.  But, that meant that I really enjoyed the stay.  I was sad to leave the city because I knew I was coming back in a year.  That was the time I had left in GRCC.

I was very happy after I came from Michigan Tech, and there was something else in my head, or I may say my heart.  I met a person in this program that changed my life.  Her name is Idaliza Gomez.  She was very nice and she brought more happiness to my life.  We started going out to know each other.  She was also transferring to MTU, so that was another positive thing in MTU. Many people still don’t understand why I came to Michigan Tech.  Some said because Idaliza, but that is not it.  Although that influenced my decision.  But it was something else.  It was the courses, the campus, the people, the professor, the opportunities, but most important, it was happiness.  I found some grad things in Houghton.  I found happiness, quietness.  I fitted very well in the city.  I felt like I grew up here.  I’m not a big fan of the wood nature, but I like the way people live here I like how you can live your life the way you want.  It is just a great place where you can concentrate in tour classes and have tons of fun with all the things going on.