For Michael Chulsky-Lopez and Scott Kubic, Rowan College at Burlington County offers flexibility, guaranteed admission to the four-year college of their choices and the invaluable experience of overcoming their anxieties.
Chulsky-Lopez, who studies creative writing and business, transferred to RCBC from Brookdale Community College after realizing he couldn’t complete his full degree online. When it came time for him to nearly finish his studies, he found that several critical classes were not offered online.
“I had already moved to Burlington County, so I figured that it would make sense to look at the local schools,” Chulsky-Lopez shared. “I visited the RCBC campus and fell in love. And RCBC does in fact allow you to fully complete a degree online, which I also loved. But I did end up going in person to one class.”
That one class turned out to be Public Speaking with Dr. Erica Osmond, who not only teaches at RCBC but also serves as Vice President of the New Jersey Communication Association.
“RCBC has been great in the sense that I feel like all the teachers are very understanding and easy to communicate with,” Chulsky-Lopez said. “In particular, I cannot say enough positives about Dr. Osmond. I believe that out of all my RCBC classes, I've learned the most from hers. I think a lot of people don't understand anxiety disorders very well. Everyone has anxiety, but not everyone has an anxiety disorder. My anxiety disorder manifests with extreme paranoia, but Dr. Osmond did an exercise that really helped. We all got in groups and worked on speeches together. Our groups became like our own personal cheerleaders and they were usually the ones clapping the loudest for us or offering words of encouragement.”
Chulsky-Lopez enjoys RCBC so much that he convinced his partner Scott Kubic to enroll at the college. The two met through their experiences in the speedrunning community – an online gaming group emphasizing tricks, glitches and practiced movement to complete video games as quickly as possible. They first met in person at a Games Done Quick convention.
“We both speedran games that had adjacent communities and ended up meeting at one of the events,” Kubic recalled. “We didn't start dating until our second or third convention after talking a ton online.”
Kubic, who’s enrolled in his second semester as an electrical engineering student at RCBC, was looking for a college with a solid program that would enable him to transfer to a great university.
“As RCBC has guaranteed admission, it was a top choice for a two-year school,” Kubic said.
“RCBC has helped me overcome some of my struggles with anxiety simply because it's a smaller campus with professors who are easy to get in contact with. One of the most daunting things about being a student who returns to college is figuring out which path and schedule you need for your degree program, and RCBC's advisors and professors made it very easy to understand and laid out my degree in a way that made sense.”
As for their future plans, Michael hopes to share his stories with the world and earn a spot on The New York Times Best Sellers List. He’s on his way, as his book Red Rose (Blood), written under his pen name Michael Kudo, was reviewed by USA Today. He’s also published several young adult books, available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Michael also holds interests in marketing and voice acting. As for Scott, he hopes to work on circuit board design in the electrical engineering field. To hear more of their story, visit rcbc.edu/podcast.
