Alexis Race '18: Community college should be seen as an opportunity, not just a back-up plan

Community colleges weren’t even on the radar when Alexis Race began her college search to pursue her longtime goal of becoming a radiologic technologist.

“I just assumed since it’s a medical field, I’d have to go to a four-year school,” said Race, a 2018 graduate of Mohawk Valley Community College’s Radiologic Technology program. “No school I looked at had radiology, so I started asking people in those jobs and they said it was a community college program.”

Until then, Race said, she didn’t even realize community college was an option. “In my high school, and even just my community in general, nobody talked about community college.”

Race, now a Radiologic Technologist at UHS Chenango Memorial Hospital in her hometown of Norwich, is looking to change that. In addition to her career as an RT and teaching at MVCC as an adjunct instructor, Race has taken on another important role: community college advocate.

“There’s a stigma about community colleges that I'm really passionate about trying to break,” she said. “Community college should be seen as an opportunity, not just a back-up plan.”

As a top 20 graduate of her high school class, Race experienced the stigma firsthand when she excitedly began talking about her college plans. “I got picked on a lot by my friends and peers. Even guidance counselors and teachers used words like ‘settling,’” she said. “People were surprised when I said I was going to community college. But if they realized how successful I was going to be after just two years of college, they would be also surprised, I think, in a good way — I’m 23 years old, I have all my student loans paid off, already have my bachelor’s degree, and I have a career I love.

“That's why I'm so passionate about talking about it now — because I had no idea of the benefits and opportunities I would receive, and the person I would turn into, because of my community college experience.”

At the time, the discouraging comments confused Race, who leaned on the academic rigor of MVCC’s Radiologic Technology program to defend her college choice. “I’d say, ‘I’m going for their X-ray program specifically, I’m not just going to community college,’ like I had to justify my decision, and not realizing the amazing opportunities and incredible experience I was in for.”

Race chose the radiology program at MVCC based on its graduation and job placement rates. “I also really like the application process with the letter of intent and the interview because I knew that I was going to be with everybody else who was just as passionate as I was.” 

As a student, Race said she felt supported by her instructors and her classmates. “They keep the class small — there were only 21 of us — so we become one big family by the end of the two years.”

During her final semester, Race applied for rad tech positions at two hospitals and received offers at both, pending her graduation and passing the boards. “This really opened my eyes even more to how incredible community colleges are in the opportunities they give their students,” she said.

Race shares such personal anecdotes when speaking to students at small-town high schools like her own, where community colleges may not be talked about as an option.

“I tell them I highly recommend community college because it really is a community here,” she said. “I knew for a fact that if I went to the dining hall by myself, I’d find somebody there I could sit with. Even the chefs and dining hall staff knew my name. I never felt like I was just another student on campus. I just I felt like I was at home.”

Race also stresses the benefits of small class sizes offered by community colleges. “If you’re transitioning from a small-town high school to college, that small student-teacher ratio is so important,” she said. “Your teacher knows your name, which is amazing, and you don’t have to scan a card so they know you’re in class; you actually have an interaction with your professor, and they know you and how you learn.”

More than anything, Race hopes to change the conversation around community colleges so that more young people take advantage of what they have to offer. “Anybody can benefit from a community college. It doesn't matter where you come from, who you are, or what you want to do in your life,” she said.

This August, Race plans to start working on her master’s degree in higher education with a concentration in community colleges, hoping to one day follow in the footsteps of the MVCC professors who taught her so much and prepared her so well.

“Now that I've had this whole experience and I’m able to reflect on it, it makes me so proud to be a community college alum,” Race said. “I'm very proud of what I've accomplished, but I wouldn’t have been able to do what I’ve done without my MVCC experience.”