New graduates walked the stage at Milwaukee Area Technical College last month ready to take the next step in their careers.
Nearly 1,200 students were eligible to graduate last semester, and 91% of MATC graduates stay in Wisconsin either to work or continue a four-year degree, said Darryll Fortune, MATC content and public relations director.
Here are two new graduates you should know.
Vida Bridges wanted to give her children a better life
Vida Bridges has always been good at business, helping family and friends with financial matters and taking care of paperwork as needed.
So when she started at MATC in 2021, she chose to major in business administration with the goal to pursue legal studies at the university level.
Bridges, who lost her dad at an early age to drugs, knew that she wanted to give her five children a better life. She tried a few schools, including Concordia University and Indiana University, but stuck with MATC because she liked the campus. She also liked the programs the school offered and tuition there was cheaper.
In her four years at MATC, Bridges balanced classwork with taking care of her children, showing up to their basketball games, track meets and everything else they needed.
“I sometimes had to do my homework while I’m at their games,” she said.
Bridges also worked at the college registrar’s office and runs her own consulting business to make extra money.
When she’s not in class, working or taking care of her children, Bridges likes to volunteer at her church, Christ Temple, by serving food and connecting with the community.
She keeps food, water, shoes and clothes in her trunk for people experiencing homelessness, helping others even when she’s short on money.
“This man, he was freezing, and I’m like ‘oh my God, you don’t got a coat?’” she said. “I spent my $10 that I had on my card and I went and got him a coat at the Goodwill.”
Overcoming challenges
Her time at MATC did not come without challenges. She lost her brother shortly after starting school there and her grandmother recently passed away. Her grandma, she said, always pushed her to reach her full potential.
“She was so creative and motivational,” Bridges said. “She always sat me down and put a piece of paper in front of my face and told me to draw and write and be creative.”
Despite her losses, Bridges kept showing up. Her supervisor, Nadirah Muhammad, noticed Bridges’ resilience and determination and nominated her for the Fall 2025 Graduating Class President’s Award.
Bridges won the award.
“Her academic record reflects not only ability, but extraordinary strength and perseverance,” Muhammad wrote in her nomination letter.
Now that she graduated, Bridges has transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater to pursue a bachelor’s degree in legal studies. Her goal is to become an attorney.
Eon Hurt found a different path
Eon Hurt wanted to be a firefighter when he graduated from high school. But when health issues got in his way, he knew he needed to find a different path.
He worked in Milwaukee schools with City Year, an AmeriCorps program that places mentors in schools to help students stay on track to graduate.
He also worked as a caregiver and started to dream of a career in the medical field.
Hurt learned about becoming an emergency medical technician, a job that would give him more flexibility to raise a family than he would have if he became a paramedic.
Hurt joined MATC’s EMT program in August. Students, including Hurt, can finish the program and enter the emergency medical field as a first responder in one semester.
When he started, Hurt worried about passing the class. Over time, he started to understand the material more and things got easier.
“When we do the practical stuff, like the hands-on stuff, it made it fun,” Hurt said. “It made me want to go more.”
Hurt especially enjoyed learning how to wrap stab wounds, splint a leg, care for gunshot victims and perform CPR as a medical professional.
Hurt still works as a caregiver but will join Bell Ambulance Inc. as an EMT once he takes the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians test.
“If you really want to be an EMT or a paramedic, you should join MATC,” Hurt said. “Every instructor I had at MATC was good and was hands on and helped me out a lot.”
Alex Klaus is the education solutions reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and a corps member of Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America plays no role in editorial decisions in the NNS newsroom.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
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