LCCC and UP Great Grads Have Great Stories

Everybody has a story, and LCCC students have some great ones.  As you will see, LCCC draws outstanding students from close to home and around the world.  Many of these students would like to share their experiences with you.

More stories will be added, so be sure to visit this page often.

• Dylan Atherton of Lorain, an Iraq war veteran, wants to use his military experience and associate’s degree from LCCC to start a career as a police officer. The 25-year-old spent a year in Baghdad, Iraq from March of 2004 to March of 2005 after being stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. He joined the Army in 2001. Learn more

• Doug Bankston and his wife Sandie moved around the country many times during his 20 years in the Coast Guard. “Multiple times I had to drop classes due to an unexpected deployment or transfer across the country,” Bankston remembers. Learn more.

• When Angel Buckles was 15 years old, she had to drop out of high school because she was pregnant with her daughter. But through determination and hard work, she will be graduating with her certificate of proficiency in practical nursing. “No one in my family has ever graduated from college, so I never dreamed that I would,” said Buckles. “LCCC made it easy for me to succeed.” Learn more.

• Devastated was how Ann Cabbil felt when she was told in 1997 that her associate degree in secretarial science would not transfer to LCCC. “Devastated but determined,” she admits. “ I set out on the course of attending LCCC, working full time, raising two wonderful children, Annie will be graduating with her associates of applied business degree in Business Management this May from LCCC. Learn more.

• Yorki Encalada-Egúsquiza came to LCCC from Lima. Not Ohio, Peru. But it’s a trip he’s glad he made. The biggest challenge the 23-year-old had to overcome was the language barrier. “I still remember the frustration I felt when reading my English 161 book and realizing that after 30 minutes I was still on the first page of the first chapter,” he said. Learn more.

• Mark Graham is graduating from LCCC this May with an associate degree in networking administration and wouldn’t have been able to do it without teachers like Don Huffman that helped keep him determined to finish. Graham said that getting the right teacher without knowing much about them is a tough thing to do. Learn more.

• Ashley Lauren Havanec doesn’t want to work in an impersonal career.  She wants to interact with people. “There are so many industries that are impersonal. Customers speak to machines and are taken care of by machines,” she said. “I want to work in a field where human contact is still seen as an important piece of the customer’s experience.” Learn more.

• After being involved in an abusive relationship and being in trouble with the legal system, Holly Jackson decided it was time to take action and improve her life. Not only is she graduating, but also she did so well in her school work that she was inducted into Phi Theta Kappa, the national honor society for community college students where she holds the office of Vice President of Public Relations. Learn more.

• “I feel like going to school here has been a family affair,” Valerie McLaughlin said about going to LCCC, because both she and her husband, Christopher Smith, will graduate in May with a associate’s of arts degrees. The Elyria couple has been married for six years, and Christopher has two daughters, Parris and Chynna. Parris is a sophomore in the Early College High School program, and Chynna will be a PSEO student next year. Parris would like to become a judge or also go into social work. Learn more

• Brenda Rausch earned a degree in Practical Nursing in 1994 and was working in the health care field when she got bitten by a bug. This bug didn’t cause her any harm. It was the bug of discovery, the desire to learn something new. Learn more.