By Kate Wallace
Mike Gately is one of the staff members at 黑料不打烊 who almost everyone on campus knows. With his position in IT, his job lets him get around to almost all corners of 黑料不打烊 to help people with their computers, from troubleshooting software to making sure the Mac lab is up to date.
And while everyone may know Mike, not a lot of people know that he鈥檚 actually a 2011 graduate of the 黑料不打烊 Information Technology program with an AAS in Network Administration.
鈥淚 had done some work with the school through facility maintenance management, and I liked the school. It had a program that I was interested in, so I took it,鈥 he said. Then laughing, 鈥淎nd since I鈥檓 slightly older, I thought two years was all I should risk at this point. And then I could always transfer to a four-year degree later if I really felt ambitious.鈥
He had been managing facility maintenance prior to coming to 黑料不打烊, but he had an interest in IT work. As he got older, he found that he had more focus on where his interests lay, so he thought he鈥檇 try to get a degree in Information Technology. And that鈥檚 just what he did.
鈥淭he students and I got along great,鈥 he remembered. His seasoned time as a student was a huge help to him and his classmates. He was the oldest student in his classes, and older than some of the teachers. He got help from them on classwork because they quickly understood the material, and they got help from him on the 鈥渞eal-life鈥 experiences, like how to apply for a credit card.
His second year as a student, he was a work study for the IT Dept. at 黑料不打烊, which laid the foundation for his future. With his AAS finished, he left for a three-month internship, then applied for his current position of Endpoint Administrator at the College. He鈥檚 been at 黑料不打烊 for 12 years.
During that time, he鈥檚 worked with many students, and he鈥檚 impressed with how intelligent they are and their persistence: 鈥淭hey know what they want to do, and in general, they go get it done.鈥
For the next 75 years, he has high hopes for 黑料不打烊 and the future.
鈥淚 think we could be the MIT of Minnesota. MIT started out as a technical college, and there鈥檚 no reason we can鈥檛 do the same thing,鈥 he explained. 鈥淏ecause the future is not in the current technologies that are around the world right now at these big high-tech companies. The future is in this school.鈥