When considering what type of college to attend in the United States, remember that 2-year community colleges are a great place to start. This is true whether you are interested in pursuing a baccalaureate degree, an advanced degree, or pursuing a career in the business world, as a professional, or an entrepreneur. Once a student earns an Associates degree, he or she can easily transfer to a four-year college or university to complete the baccalaureate.

David Anderson is a Director for the omnipresent CNN International in Atlanta, Georgia. There he is responsible for two hours of live programming each day.

He loves his job and credits much of his success to the time he spent at Union County College in New Jersey. According to Anderson, “A few weeks ago my crew and I got into a discussion about college professionals who had an impact on their lives. For me there is no doubt that it was my television production professor at my community college. He pushed students to do more and made my first glimpse of television production an enjoyable one”.
“There I received a great deal of encouragement from all of the faculty to try new things and expand my experiences,” he adds.

When Anderson was a child his father took him to the taping of a television game show. At the time, the wide-eyed youth described the whole experience as “pretty cool!” Years later, after graduating from high school, Anderson began his college education at the 2-year college. Besides hunkering down for the strong core curriculum that the College provided, he remembered that “cool experience” from his youth and took a course in TV production out of curiosity. From then on, he was hooked. The course, as well as the teaching style of the professor, “struck a chord with me,” says Anderson.

In 19895, he graduated with an Associate of Arts in Communication and transferred to Glassboro State College (now Rowan University). The transfer from the two-year to four-year college was a smooth one and, without missing a beat, Anderson followed up by graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in communication two years later.

“Not only did I learn a lot, but I enjoyed myself while doing it,” recalls Anderson. “my community college experience and that professor are the reason that I am in television today!”

Even Ivy League universities welcome students who come to them after earning their Associates degree at a community college.

For example, when Ernest T. Caldwell, Jr.., graduated this past May, he was well on the way to achieving his personal goal – to become Dr. Ernest T. Caldwell, Jr., renowned Academic in education policy.

In the spring 1999 Caldwell first entered the front doors of his community college campus. By getting to know each professor, advisor, and many administrators there, he was encouraged to become involved with many organization on campus. Even with all his extracurricular activity, Caldwell maintained an excellent academic awards and honors.

Caldwell describes his experience as exceptional. He is already climbing to the next plateau, having just completed the first semester of his junior year at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. According to him, “Attending an Ivy League university like Brown was a daunting prospect, but now that I’m here, there is no doubt that my community college experience prepared me well,” He’s already looking beyond the baccalaureate degree to that converted Ph.D.

According to Caldwell, “1 am what community colleges throughout the USA are all about. Educational opportunity for everyone…… not having a community college education would not have allowed me to be the person I want to be…”

More Information
For more information on community colleges in the U.S. go to www.aacc.nche.edu

For information on Union County College visit www.uuc.edu. Or contact Peter Vida at vid@ucc.edu