Lake Elsinore Empty-Nester Creates New Life After Kids

When more than 1,300 Mt. San Jacinto College students walk across the stage at the Ramona Bowl Amphitheater to receive their diplomas on May 31, it will signal a new beginning for many. For others it will be a defining moment they never expected to experience.  

Among the graduates is Lake Elsinore resident Stacie Macias, who returned to school after her children had grown. She recalled getting the MSJC semester schedules in the mail for years.  

“In between helping my kids with their homework and getting dinner ready, I would pore over those schedules, picking out the classes I would take if I had the time to go to college,” she said.  

After her children graduated from high school and moved on with their own lives, Macias found herself with some of that precious commodity: time.  

“By this time I was well past what is considered ‘college age’ and I felt a little silly so I decided I would just take a couple of classes at the Menifee Valley Campus for fun,” Macias explained.  

After a few semesters of taking classes, she was hooked and did not want to stop. She was accumulating credits and getting straight As.

“It occurred to me that I might actually be able to get an associate’s degree,” she recalled.  

She focused on her general education requirements with the intention of majoring in early childhood education but changed her mind after taking American history, which she had loved in high school.  

“The general education requirements put a student in front of a smorgasbord of knowledge and makes him or her take a taste of each dish,” she said. “What one person finds unpalatable, another person loves.”  

Macias took several history classes with Dr. Jim Davis who became her favorite teacher and mentor of sorts. She became a history tutor at the Learning Resource Center and then a Supplemental Instruction leader.  

“Being an SI leader for the past five semesters has helped me prepare for my goal of becoming a history instructor,” she said. “I am now about to transfer to Cal State, San Marcos as a history major and hope to return to MSJC in three or four years to teach. My sights are now set on attaining my master’s degree in history.”  

In 2009, Macias received the William H. McNeill Award for excellence in history. In 2012, she was one of four MSJC students selected for the 2012 Phi Theta Kappa All-California Community College Academic Team. She received a medallion of honor and certificate for her accomplishments. 

“College is a great big swimming pool. I admire the students who can cannonball off the diving board into the deep end,” Macias said. “I have taken the steps down into the shallow end, one at a time. I’m in the deep end now but I’ve been in the pool so long my skin is getting wrinkly. My advice to incoming students would be to cannonball into the deep end if you can. If you can’t, be patient and persistent.” --Karin Marriott, MSJC

MSJC will award 1,688 associate’s degrees and 232 certificates to a total of 1,318 graduates during the May 31, 2012 commencement. Last year, MSJC awarded 1,649 associate’s degrees and 249 to 1,322 graduates.  

Commencement begins at 6 p.m. at 27400 Ramona Bowl Road in Hemet. For more information, visit www.msjc.edu