I was so happy to receive your note this fall and have often thought that I should write and tell you how my life has been since ICT. I don't know if I am in a minority for your students, but now, at least, it won't be a silent group!

I graduated in 1981 and had an A.A.S. in General Science as well as my ICT degree. I had come to you from Pre-Pharmacy and thanks personally to you, finally felt I had found my niche. Within two months I was hired as a Technician (Jr.) at Bridgman's Donald C. Cook Nuclear Power Plant. (Most graduates, at that time were happy to get any job and VERY happy to be working in their field within a year.) I rose through the ranks and was a Sr. Technician and sometimes acting Supervisor by 1986. I liked where I worked and I liked the job; so much so, that for 7 years I drove 72 miles each way to work. The best part was DOING Chemistry everyday.

Life being what it is, in 1989, I left my job to stay at home with two babies. My husband was working in Whitehall, we lived in Holland to split the difference. With a two year old and a new baby, the drive didn't look the same as it used to!

Well, now, the two year old is a freshman in High School and the baby is about to be a teen-ager. I have never gone back to full time work and you may think the story ends there. But let me tell you the benefits that have extended through all this time, the differences in my life and others that your part of my story has made.

Thanks to my degree in Industrial chemistry, I DID get that job quickly and easily. I DID rise through the ranks with skill and knowledge. I had a "great job" when the economy was shaky, and I ENJOYED it. Thanks to my degree, I was able to save money and buy a house before having my babies. I could have my babies knowing that they would be provided for in the future (we made sure to think of their college way back then.) Finally, and most important, having that "great job", thanks to ICT, I was able to STOP working when my family needed that.

My son and daughter have always been straight A students. Mark is second in his class and an Eagle Scout candidate. Jennifer is a confident young lady that plans to be an Orthodontist. I currently volunteer and substitute at the middle school. We have our dream home in Grand Haven, my neighbors call me to help with homework and we talk about chemistry and science at the dinner table.

Mr.Peterson, I was the first in my family to go to college. I had just turned 18 when you impressed me with how much you liked what you did and how eager you were for others to do the same. Not so many people in this world can say they love what they do for a living, not so many moms these days can choose to raise their children themselves. You gave me both opportunities and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I have not published, I have no patents and I didn't get the B.S., but the differences in the life I have led for the last 20 years, the successes of my children and eventually the lives of their children are very much rooted in your ICT program. What an impact you have had!

You have every permission to use my letter and address anyway you see fit, and thank you very much again.

I currently substitute (which I couldn't do without my degree) and volunteer in the middle school. It's perfect because I can work the precise hours and days that my children are away from home and don't need me. But in my contact with 12 years olds, I have seen that we still (in my small MI town, anyway) have few girls that even consider science or technology as a career choice. (90% want to be a teacher, the rest a cosmetologist or Britney Spears) ICT helped me with that and therefore it helped my daughter and her friends and my Girl Scout Troop...I spread the word whenever I can!