SC4 alumna Angela Rochon is the embodiment of a college success story. Fiercely motivated, her passion for her work is well known and has led her in a variety of directions throughout her lifetime. From psychiatric therapist, social worker and educator to motivational speaker and author of a memoir, she’s an inspiration to those around her.
Rochon and her husband, Louis Rochon, both 74, got their start at SC4 in 1963, when it was known as Port Huron Junior College.
“Louis and I were the first in our immediate families to graduate college and chose SC4 so that we could afford to go to college after graduating high school,” she said. “While at SC4, Louis was a dishwasher at the former Del’s Diner in Marine City. Both of us carpooled to SC4.”
Rochon said the college provided the financial and academic foundation and support to help her succeed in a new environment.
“I was interested in writing at an early age, having first been published when I was 16,” Rochon said. “The college selected my poem for literary publication in ‘Patterns,’ which encouraged me to continue writing.
“Additionally, I worked on campus with SC4 Job Placement Director Jerry Lynch. The experience not only helped me finance my education, but also gave me confidence years later when I became an administrator at St. Clair County Regional Educational Service Agency, where I managed state and federal grants including those in job placement.”
After earning her associate of arts degree in Spanish and English at SC4, Rochon went on to earn her bachelor’s with a teaching certificate in both languages from Eastern Michigan University, where she also read to the blind and served as a private tutor and substitute teacher at Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti Public Schools. At the University of Michigan, Rochon earned her master’s in Spanish and was employed as a tutor in residence before moving on to teach Spanish and English at Marine City High School. Later, after her work at St. Clair County RESA, she took a job in management at Wayne State University. While working full-time at Wayne State, she earned a second master’s degree in social work and completed an internship in gerontology through the Henry Ford Hospital PACE program, where she led reminiscence groups based on research that reminiscing stimulates the brain to provide a sense of well-being.
Rochon’s professional journey also led her to teach part-time with her husband at SC4 while raising their three children, Jennifer, Julie and Marc.
Though now officially retired, she most certainly has not slowed down.
Rochon, who writes under A.M. Andino Rochon, released her first book last fall called “FATHERless, My Father’s Memoir and Mine” a story about her father that covers six generations, spans two centuries, and describes Ellis Island and the Great Depression.
She also remains active using her professional experience in communities near and far to help friends and strangers reconnect with their memories.
“It is very important to help people to reminiscence — it has become my mission,” Rochon said. “Throughout Michigan and in other states, I conduct programs in which participants and I stimulate our brains as we call our memories to mind, experience our shared joy as a group, and recognize the decrease in our collective and individual anxiety.”
Next month, nonprofit organization StoryCorps will record Rochon’s story, which will be archived in the Library of Congress.
Other members of Rochon’s family also have SC4 ties, including her mother, the late Vera Polito Andino Roggeman, who studied at SC4 and became a teacher; her aunt, the late Dr. Ida Polito Rockwood Basinski, who earned her associate degree at SC4 and studied at Central Michigan University; and her nephew, James Kettel, a U-M graduate who taught executives in the Czech Republic before earning a dual master’s degree in business management and social work at St. Louis University. Kettel currently serves as the operation budget coordinator, senior fiscal analyst for the Senate Committee Services of the Washington State Legislature.
“Our students, who come from cities across our region and beyond, are committed to their education and work hard throughout the year to achieve their goals,” said Vice President of Student Services Pete Lacey. “The students honored at this ceremony are wonderful examples of what can be achieved in the classroom and out in our community.”
