Matthew Vergo graduated from MIA in 2021 and is now completing his second year at FGCU. He is currently studying pre-dental and is planning on continuing his career to become a dentist. He shared he chose FGCU because it was closest to home as well as his family. He also adds, “It is a good university with a pretty campus and has the facilities I need to get into dental school.” So far, Matthew describes his first two years as ‘very stressful and time-consuming.’ 

Currently, Matthew is a biology major with a concentration in microbiology. Matthew went on to explain his class schedule, saying he has around five to six classes a semester. He adds, “All the classes I need, like biochemistry and genetics, are very time-consuming.” Matthew says this has definitely had an effect on his social life, seeing as he ‘never has time to do anything.’ 

During his high school career, Matthew participated in soccer as well as football. While he loved playing, he also made sure to keep up with his academics. Matthew graduated high school with his AICE diploma and was an active member of MIA’s Key Club and Interact Club. 

Reflecting back on his four years at MIA, Matthew discusses his favorite memories as well as his teachers. He states, “My favorite teachers were Mrs. G, Butler, and, believe it or not, Scalia.” He states his reasonings for Mrs. G, saying, “She was very accommodating when you had sudden events come up outside of school.” He also adds Mrs. G was his ‘overall favorite’ teacher out of all of them. He says that Mr. Butler did a ‘good job of keeping the class interesting’ and that Mr. Scalia, despite his ‘grumpiness’ was good because he expects a lot from his students and always encourages them to do their best. These expectations helped prepare Matthew for a ‘college-level composition class.’ 

When making the change from high school to college, Matthew learned that “Nobody is there to hold your hand and keep track of your grades. It’s a different level of responsibility.” Being faced with this change taught him to make a schedule that works for him and stick to it. Matthew took a lot of fundamental courses throughout his high school career, but for him, the most beneficial class was his AICE classes. He says, “The thing that prepared me the most for college from MIA was the AICE classes. Although the environment and workload were different, the credits were a big help toward getting through my gen-ed requirements and even a couple of other major requirements.” 

Matthew also shares how his parents taught him responsibility at a young age and the ways this has benefited him. He says, “In high school, my parents started to let me tend to my own grades. They would often tell me, ‘If you fail, it’s not our problem,’ even though they still wouldn’t have been happy if I did.” This forced Matthew to get his priorities straight for college. 

Matthew leaves this message for future graduates, “If I had to give some advice, I would say don’t rush your way through college and try to cram everything in at once. Make sure the combination of classes you register for is manageable so you can focus more on your grades than the stress of the workload of 6 STEM classes, for example.”