Graduate Essays - Matt Brady: This college lives up to its name: A community

My attendance at Elgin Community College was born out of uncertainty about the future. Right on the heels of leaving for an expensive four-year college in 2021, I began to question whether the life-changing decision I was about to make was right. Was the major I was intending to pursue what I really wanted to do with my life? Would I feel right about making my parents pay loads of money to a school I wasn’t 100% sure about?

After telling my parents my concerns – a week out from when I was about to file for a huge student loan – they wholeheartedly supported my decision to attend community college.

My first year at ECC was not dazzling; all my friends had gone to four-year schools, I wasn’t an outgoing person, and my days were filled with homework, mind-numbing nights of video games, and afternoons noodling on my guitar. In retrospect, that seems like another person I wouldn’t recognize today.

It wasn’t until my second year that the world opened up to me: I joined the Observer (the student-led newspaper at ECC), climbed my way to become photo editor and then editor-in-chief, picked up photography, began a relationship with my amazing current partner, and made a new crop of outgoing friends.

Joining the Observer was a huge turning point in my life; I always had a small knack for journalism, but it wasn’t until joining the club, writing news stories, and interviewing people that I realized this was something that lit a fire in me. The practice of interviewing – asking questions entailing life, adventures, and beliefs – was something I didn’t realize was a magical force that bridged the gap between uncertainty between two strangers.

ECC has helped me in ways I couldn’t imagine. Because of the skills I’ve learned here, I’ve co-founded an independent music magazine with my partner, was able to hold an art exhibition of my photographic work, and can confidently go on to the next educational step in my life at Columbia College Chicago.

I want to thank my professor, Travis Linville, and art director/boss, Juan Fernandez, for the huge artistic support that they have given me. They have become mentors to me, and I’ve grown exponentially in the past year and a half because of their input, criticism, tough love, and push for growth in my photography. I know I have a lot of growing to do, but I’ve been set in the correct direction because of them.

To ECC students enrolling, you’ll get out what you put in! This college lives up to its name: a community of supportive people and professors! If you have the drive to do something, whether art, engineering, mathematics, or biology, go to your professor and tell them! Show them that you have a love and passion for it, and they will help you no matter what! You might end up with something incredible.

Matt Brady ‘24

Associate in Arts

Elgin, Ill.

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