Dana Polich, an aspiring art teacher and student at Moraine Valley Community College, is meeting the future with a mix of optimism and realism.
“My main hope is to transfer hopefully to UIC and become an art teacher,” she said, reflecting on a passion that has guided her from the start. While she always knew she wanted to teach art–“art is like the only thing I’ve really been good at”–she admits that her time at Moraine has given her clearer direction.
“Now I actually know how I can get there… I had no clue before.”
Nonetheless, she’s aware of the challenges she will face, especially as artificial intelligence begins to reshape creative fields. She hopes that the rise of technology won’t overshadow the human drive to create.
“The main thing that’s the scariest is the AI,” she said, worried that easy access to AI-generated art might make people question the value of learning artistic skills at all. “It’s always important to learn about art and actually figure out how to do things yourself.”
Madelyn Ewing, a student nearing the end of her time at Moraine Valley Community College, is stepping into her future with a newfound clarity about her passion for printmaking.
“Honestly, I don’t really know, but I do want to go into printmaking… I think that is my true passion at this point,” she shared. When she first started at Moraine, her path was less certain.
“I really didn’t know what I wanted to do in art. I was just kind of still figuring things out,” she said.
Now, with her goals more defined, Ewing is focused on refining her skills. “I’m worried that because I’m choosing such a specific field, it might not get me, like, a good job,” she said. Still, she remains hopeful, “I just have to… keep pushing for what I want.”
Looking ahead, Ewing is eager to grow as an artist. “I’m hoping I can learn more new styles of printmaking or any new styles of art… when I go into a future transfer school,” she said.
Emily Chavez is preparing to take her next steps after Moraine Valley Community College with a clear goal in mind.
“I hope to be in a respiratory program,” she said, a goal that reflects a shift from the path she originally started on. “At first, my major was psychology and that has now completely changed.”
Chavez’s journey has been shaped by exploration and unexpected detours discovering new interests through coursework and navigating the challenges of retaking classes. “Things happen, life happens,” she said.
Still, she acknowledges the pressure of staying on track. “My fears going into the future are that I’ll have to retake more classes and just, you know, falling behind in general.” Despite these worries, Chavez remains focused and hopeful, determined to keep moving forward toward a future in healthcare.
Grace Antonelli’s journey at Moraine Valley Community College has taken an unexpected but deeply meaningful turn. She was originally planning to pursue psychology, possibly in forensics, but her aspirations shifted dramatically after a study abroad experience.
“I took social science in Greece with Moraine over the summer and I got to work firsthand with the social workers in Greece,” she said. There, she witnessed cutting-edge uses of AI to locate missing children and observed the complex process of rehousing migrant and immigrant youth.
“They kind of opened my eyes and changed my whole path of the rest of my career,” Antonelli explained.
Now, she is driven to make a difference in child welfare and social policy, but the hope doesn’t come without fears: “I’m afraid that I’m being too ambitious… that I’m not gonna be able to do all the things that I wanna do in my career.”
A professor reassured her that she was on the right path, telling her, “With this degree you’ll be able to work in policies and also work firsthand with the children.”
Jesse Joaquin’s path at Moraine Valley Community College has been anything but linear, and that’s exactly what led him to where he feels he belongs.
“At first, I was actually here without a plan,” he admitted, describing how a break from school and an initial interest in digital design eventually gave way to a new direction. “I realized that [design] wasn’t really for me… a lot of Photoshop classes, I was like, ‘Do I want to be doing this?’”
Joaquin has since pivoted to pursuing an associate’s degree in health informatics, a shift that was influenced both by family and self-discovery. “I’m Filipino… my entire family are nurses,” he said with a laugh.
A skills assessment at Moraine helped steer him toward a field that suited his strengths. “They said I’d be good at office work… and then [my mom] was like, ‘You should do health informatics.’”
Though optimistic about job prospects in a growing healthcare sector, Joaquin does have one lingering worry: “My one thing that I’m afraid of is that I’ll suck really bad at it, because I was never the best at bio classes.”
Even with this self doubt, Joaquin maintains a practical mindset and growing confidence, pushing forward ready to turn uncertainty into success.
Velocity 
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