Spring — 2005

Jared Sacco

Science

“I took a physics class at another community college over the summer, and the quality of instruction that you get at SMC is just much, much better.”

“My math class is at night—5 to 7:30 p.m.—so it sometimes feels a little long,” says Jared Sacco, newly arrived from New York. “But those classes, I think, are very good because a lot of the students are older, working people, and they tend to get very serious.” But it’s not all serious work for Jared at SMC. “I mean, the weather and the location are just beautiful. The campus has a very open feeling to it and—even though a lot of people here know each other from high school—it’s easy to meet them because they just don’t have a lot of attitude.”

Like most of out-of-state students, there was initially one primary reason for searching out SMC: money. “Yeah, it’s really expensive for us until we’ve lived here for a year. And I really would like to end up at USC or UCLA. But after a couple of years at SMC,” says Jared, “I’m sure I’ll be going on to the college I choose, because SMC has got the whole transfer thing figured out. And when I went to see the counselors here and told them what I wanted to do,” he continues,, “They got right on it. They gave me very good advice to keep me on the right path and make sure that all my credits will transfer over.”

It’s math and physics that Jared’s all about, and he hopes to be involved in a field that most of us just can’t get our minds around. “Probably my focus is going to be on quantum mechanics,” he says of his aspiration to learn of just what keeps this old universe spinning and ticking. “And the physics class I’m in just now with Professor Masada is a very good one. And it’s challenging. You ask him a question, and he’s never stumped for an answer. They guy knows what he’s talking about.” So there’s Jared’s life a’building. Today, SMC. Next, UCLA. And then? The stars….

Back