Category: Alumni

Port Huron’s own Paul Miller has been getting up and starting the morning with thousands of area listeners each weekday for 17 years now.

The St. Clair County Community College alumnus is the man behind the microphone as the host of the WPHM AM-1380 morning show.

A 1986 graduate of Port Huron Northern High School, Miller went on to attend SC4 and earn his associate degree in 1988. He then transferred to Central Michigan University where he received his Bachelor of Applied Arts in broadcast and cinematic arts with a minor in English in 1990.

Miller, 51, said his local community college was essential in getting him on the right wavelength.

“SC4 was a great choice for me,” he said. “I was interested in a career in media, and was able to gain experience on campus in many ways. I liked the smaller class size, the accessibility of instructors. Of course, SC4 was an affordable choice, but I also felt the quality of instruction was good and it allowed me to graduate with an associate degree and easily transfer to Central Michigan University.”

Over the years, Miller worked as news director for WGHN radio in Grand Haven from 1991-92, WPHM from 1992-96, and WCRZ in Flint from 1996-98. He later worked as a news reporter/anchor for WJR in Detroit from 1996-2001 and then account executive at Marx Layne and Co. Public Relations in 2001-02 before returning home to host the WPHM morning show.

Miller said he actually started his career at WPHM when he worked part time for the radio station while attending SC4 in 1987-88.

“I grew up listening to WPHM as a kid so it was fun to have longtime morning show host John Hill as my communications instructor,” he said. “John hired me to work at WPHM on a part-time basis while I attended SC4, and it provided me invaluable experience learning about radio and working in the business while going to school.

“John became a longtime friend, and I was honored to work with him as news director at WPHM after graduating from CMU. I eventually returned to replace him when he retired from the station and also taught some of his media classes at SC4.”

Miller added SC4’s downtown campus is small enough for students to make important connections while going to school, yet large enough to offer events for the entire community.

“In addition to the opportunity I had to work at WPHM while attending SC4, I made friends that I still have today during my time at the college,” Miller added. “I thought it was a good bridge between high school and moving away to attend Central Michigan. I like that SC4 truly is part of the community where students and non-students alike can participate in activities on campus, right in downtown Port Huron.”

Miller and his wife, Anne, live in Fort Gratiot and have a daughter, Nora, 17.

Thanks to St. Clair County Community College, alumna Patricia F. Tibble never had to give up her dreams of joining the military and becoming an educator.

Tibble serves as the health/physical education and tech teacher at Fort Gratiot Middle School as well as a reservist with the U.S. Navy at Selfridge in Clinton Township.

Tibble grew up in a small country town in Texas. Her parents came from Mexico to the United States for a better life to support her and her seven siblings.

“I remember thinking about my future at a very young age because my parents reminded my siblings and I about their sacrifice for a better life,’” she said. “I worked hard to keep focus on the future. I had dreams about someday joining the military to serve my country that gave so much to my family and as well as going to college to earn a degree in education.”

A graduate of Sudan (Texas) High School, Tibble first attended Ventura County Community College in Oxnard, Calif., while on active duty with the U.S. Navy. She then transferred to SC4 when she and husband Justin moved to Port Huron.

She attended SC4 from 2002-04 where she completed her Associate of Arts degree.

“I attended SC4 to complete general education courses that I did not complete while on active duty in California,” she said. “I found that SC4 offered a teacher introduction course with field work and I enrolled. Based on that experience, I concluded that teaching was definitely the right career pathway for me.”

After SC4, she transferred to Saginaw Valley State University where she graduated in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in K-12 health/physical education. She continued on there to earn her master’s degree in educational leadership for middle/high school in 2014.

“It was an advantage to attend SC4, because it was close to home and convenient to get to the campus library for project meetings and individual research,” Tibble said. “SC4 prepared me to be successful at the university level.”

Tibble said it was 2009 when she decided to return to the Navy Reserves to finish what she started years ago. Since enlisting as a reservist, she has served 14 years of active and reserve duty and plans to serve her country up to retirement.

Today Tibble’s daughter, Candelaria, is following in her mother’s footsteps by attending SC4 through the Blue Water Middle College.

“As a parent and an educator, I know the importance of education,” Tibble said. “When my daughter, Candelaria, and I found out about the Blue Water Middle College at SC4, I knew it was the key to my daughter’s future. She is now in her 13th year and, like me, she is grateful for SC4 because it builds the foundation needed to face challenges at a university.”

“SC4 helped me prepare for academic and personal growth challenges, all which I faced at SVSU,” she added. “While attending SC4, I was a mother and a wife. It was a struggle at times; however, I was able to overcome many obstacles with the help of my husband and mother-in-law, Barb. Thanks to their help, my worries were minimized because I knew my daughter was being taken care of while I was in class and daily chores were being done at home.”

She added, “I am extremely grateful that the instructors at SC4 were understanding and showed that they cared about my goals and accomplishments. I want to be someone my daughter looks up to. My advice is to never give up.”

For St. Clair County Community College alumnus Jake Louks, SC4 offered the chance to connect with faculty in an invaluable way.

“At another university I attended before SC4, I felt like one of thousands,” Louks said. “I felt like college wasn’t for me because I didn’t like the big lecture-style courses I had at the university. At SC4, I was able to connect with faculty. My experience was totally different—small discussion-based classes with approachable faculty. It was more aligned with what I wanted.”

The Port Huron Northern High School graduate attended SC4 in 2009 and again from 2010 to 2012. While at SC4, he focused on taking transferrable credits and benefitted from faculty committed to his success.

“Faculty members are such an important resource. My SC4 professors did a great job bridging the gap and building a relationship, which allowed me to reach out outside of class for clarification and to bounce ideas around,” Louks said. “They gave me the space to become a self-advocate. They went above and beyond to make sure I could see the path I wanted to travel—both in their course and in life.

“Jim and Patricia Frank in particular had a big impact on me. They created a sense of community with my classmates and with them. They really helped me explore topics from separate viewpoints and disciplines.”

Louks transferred credits from SC4 to Western Michigan University, where he studied public history and earned a bachelor’s degree in 2015.

Upon graduation, he put his degree to work with service at an archival library and a national park. He then served as a career and college planning advocate with AmeriCorps and is now working as an organizer for a labor union that represents educators.

According to Louks, who is preparing to take the LSAT and has legal aspirations, his experience at SC4 helped him on his career path immensely.

“I don’t like the word networking, but SC4 helped me learn how to build relationships professionally, and when you have more people helping you it is much easier to succeed,” said Louks, who reversed transferred back to SC4 in 2016 and earned an associate degree. “I don’t think I would have completed an undergraduate degree without my experience at SC4.”

He added, “Community colleges represent the American Dream to me. I believe that the American Dream means that anyone should be able to settle and make a living where they want. That could be New York City, or it could be the rural thumb of Michigan. Community colleges help make that happen.”