On Friday, April 26, students and faculty from Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) came together to celebrate the release of the “Sharing Our World” book. This book contains stories from over 200 MATC students who are part of the English as a Second Language (ESL) program.
The book focuses on the personal journeys of these students through poetry, essays, and more. Erin Helland, an ESL instructor at MATC, said that she believes that students feel a strong sense of pride when they see their work published in this book. She added that it’s not just about having their story out there but also being able to read it in English in front of others.
“I think students feel a very strong sense of pride like wow, my work is published, look at this, and not only that, I can read my story in English, in front of people,” said Erin Helland.
This year’s book represents forty-seven countries, which is the fifth edition developed in the past five years by MATC’s community education pathway. The release of this book was a celebration of the hard work and dedication of these students who have come from all over the world to pursue their education at MATC.