Students make commitment to achieve associate degree
Ben Garcia
To most people who walked by the temporary wall located in the Kirk Student Center all they noticed was a blank wall.Good thing Duane Oakes, a faculty director of the Center for Service Learning, is not most people because what he saw in that blank wall was an opportunity.
An opportunity to transform a simple temporary makeshift wall, used as a dust barrier during construction of the new offices of the ASMCC, into the makings of a commit wall.
The purpose of the commit wall, according to Oakes, is to encourage students to commit to completing a two-year degree.
Oakes said that students who are signing the wall are essentially making a pledge to complete an associate degree.
The first signatures on the commit wall went up after a Phi Theta Kappa meeting in which the national executive director of Phi Theta Kappa Rod A. Risley attended.
After the meeting, a ribbon cutting ceremony kicked off the start of students being able to commit to complete a two-year degree by signing the wall.
Paul Huffman, a psychology student, said he was signing the wall because he felt it would be a waste of time to start something and not complete it.
“I just think you’ve got to go all the way with whatever you start,” Huffman added.
Being a role model and the importance of commitment are why Lea Laffarpha, an MCC student, signed the wall.
“Life happens sometimes and I think it’s important to show your employers that you’re willing to finish and meet your goal and whatever happens, stick it out and get it done,” Laffarpha said.
Laffarpha also mentioned how she felt that having the commit wall and making students sign it as a pledge to graduate are important because she believes it is in the best interest of the country for more people to have their degrees.
Laffarpha added how a goal of MCC and any other academic institution is to have a high graduation rate, and she thinks that having the commit wall on display will help achieve the school’s goal of increasing the number of students who obtain an associate degree.
Future plans for the wall are for it to be moved and displayed elsewhere on campus.
