Last month, Wisconsin’s Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez visited Madison College to listen and gather student input about their educational experiences and perspectives.
During her visit, Rodriguez toured the state-of-the-art Wisconsin Aviation Center, which has partnered with Madison College for the Professional Aeronautics Certificate (PAC) program.
Rodriguez’s tour also included stops at the Electro-Mechanical, Machine Tool and Metrology labs, as well as the nearby National Science Foundation-Amazon Web Services Labs (NSF-AWS).
She concluded her tour at the STEM Center to learn about the challenges and benefits of being a student at the college.
STEM Students from the Liberal Arts Transfer program talked about their plans to transfer to UW with plans to study environmental biology, biology, mechanical, civil, electrical engineering and computer science.
Many cited affordability, flexibility and smaller class sizes among the reasons cited for choosing a two-year college like Madison College.

The students were asked what they wanted to share with government senior leaders about their experiences at Madison College.
Liberal Arts Transfer student Avery Wells, who plans to study genetics and Spanish before going to law school, recalled his first semester.
Wells said he needed to work 20-30 hours a week while attending school. While that was difficult, Wells said the school had a lot of resources and understanding faculty who moved their office hours to accommodate my work schedule.
“Their willingness to work with me is a big reason why I was able to get through that semester with successful grades,” Wells said. “The faculty is just amazing with all the other classes I have; it’s a huge reason why I enjoy my time here so much.”
Listening to Wells and other students’ workload challenges prompted Rodriguez to share her own higher education experience. She shared that her mother was a teaching assistant and her father fixed telephone lines for a living.
“So, not a lot of money coming in. I had to work when I first started my Bachelor’s program, and I was one of the few students who had to do that. That was a huge struggle — to be able to balance those two things,” she said.
Hassan Hashmi, the student liaison for the Madison College district board, recollected his educational journey, born in America but raised and educated in Saudi Arabia.
After transitioning back to America, he recalled having to decide between enrolling at UW-Madison or enrolling at Madison College, saying he appreciated the accessibility that Madison College offered. He cites the support, college resources, office hours, library and the Student Achievement Center tutoring as reasons he ultimately decided on the two-year college.
“Other institutions — getting help there is much harder. It is so easy to get help here. I am able to accomplish a lot of things, being in the Student Senate, being on the district board, and making those small connections with professors here. There is so much help at Madison College that you’re not going to find in a bigger institution,” Hashmi said.
After the listening session, Rodriguez spoke with several students about their plans, taking time to listen to each one.
“STEM Education is really important for the state of Wisconsin. Our technical college system, as well as our UW system, needs support to be able to make sure that students are successful, said Rodriguez, reflecting on the feedback she received.
“What I’ve seen here today is that there is a lot of support with MATC, and we need to be encouraging students to look at different avenues to be able to get their education.”