Midland College recently highlighted student Candice Atwater, a native Midlander, who described her journey as a college student, according to a press release. Through several years of part-time school, she just recently graduated.
Atwater graduated from Midland College in May with an Associate of Science degree, and is taking one more class to prepare herself before enrolling in a dental hygiene program. She started attending Midland College part time in January 2016, balancing higher education and maintaining a job.
Atwater initially attended Texas A&M Corpus Christi, majoring in theater arts. She was in Corpus for a semester, before reconsidering. She said that it “was a huge school and incredibly daunting. I was overwhelmed and never really felt comfortable. I stuck it out for one semester, and then came back to Midland and enrolled in Midland College, where I immediately felt at home.”
She also reconsidered her major, concluding that theater arts was not a very practical degree. She started taking several different classes, exploring different subjects such as accounting and psychology. Eventually, Atwater decided on a career involving healthcare, landing on becoming a dental hygienist.
Atwater expressed nothing but gratitude for Midland College, saying she never had a bad professor and enjoyed every subject she studied. She stated that “everyone at Midland College is incredibly helpful and passionate about their jobs.”
In the article published on Midland College’s website, Atwater touched on her love of ice skating, how she started skating as a kid and picked it back up in recent years. In fact, she managed the ice rink at Music City Mall in Odessa until last year, and coaches figure skating to children.