BRAVO! Modesto JC - A Personal View...
Throughout the nearly half-century I’ve lived in Modesto there has been a continual bright light, even a beacon, to beckon me to enjoy many worlds. In the first months after moving our family to Modesto, however, my life seemed alienated and insular, as though perennially clouded in tule fog, all seemed colorless, lacking the stimulation I experienced in the Bay Area.
And then TECHNICOLOR! . . . the Bee announced that the MJC Lecture Series would be hosting the poet, John Ciardi, as a Thursday afternoon speaker. I arranged for a baby sitter, and I set foot for the first time on that park-like East Campus of Modesto Junior College. When I exited the auditorium after the event, and walked out into the campus, it was as though I was taking the first real breath of fresh air since I’d come to town.
The stimulation lasted long enough for me to enroll in evening class that Fall. I decided to retake my Freshman English to give me a jumpstart, and as a result I met a kindred spirit, the dynamic Bob Mognis. He was in his first year teaching job at MJC, expecting very little from the evening 1A class, but he inspired me to do my best and encouraged me to submit an essay in a contest; I won the prize and my essay was published. Jumpstart it was indeed!
From there, I took more of Bob’s classes; he was such fun and full of good teaching techniques. I sampled other evening offerings regularly for several years thereafter and sang in Masterworks. The college pulled me like a magnet, and I responded with resultant excitement. Eventually, when the youngest was in school, I began back to school in earnest, taking twelve units each semester, even launching on a second Major after finishing the first. I gloried in worlds of Music, Business, Art, Interior Design, Humanities, more English — all exciting, all adding to my knowledge, to my skill, and to my future life experience. I even joined the Alpha Gamma Sigma Honor Society. I graduated with AA degrees in both business and art.
All through the Modesto years, the MJC Auditorium has been a fertile venue of rich experience in music and drama. Today, my daughter is a principal in the Community Orchestra, my son was a principal with an earlier version of the Modesto Symphony, and my granddaughter has starred in Opera on that same stage. What opportunities with which we have been blessed through MJC!
I realize this is a very personal statement, but I believe it is a sample of what MJC is to countless other Modesto families and individuals. Like the taproot that nourishes and grounds the tree, this institution of learning empowers Modestans of all walks of life.
Today, the Modesto Institute of Continued Learning (MICL), on West Campus, is my activity, continuing to open doors to other worlds, allowing me to meet new people and enjoy those acquaintances with whom I’ve been blessed. MICL exists because of MJC; it will prevail because of MJC.
My vote for the best thing in Modesto is Modesto Junior College. It has made all the difference to my almost half-century in this town.
- Shirley Irving