Never too late; older students on campus

By PRESTON BUCHANAN, Staff Reporter |

There are about 1,785 students at Amarillo College who are over the age of 35, according to Robert Austin, the vice president of enrollment management.

That might seem like not a lot of people, but that is 18.1 percent of the students enrolled at AC, Austin said.

Matthew Diaz, an 18-year-old engineering major, said he was surprised to see older students on campus.

“It was weird at first. I had to get used to seeing and being around older people,” he said.

Gradually, Diaz said he became accustomed to the variety of ages at the college.

“I soon began to realize we were both there for the same reason, on the hunt of getting a degree, and it didn’t bother me anymore,” he said. Older students also have to adjust to being around people of different ages.

“It was a little intimidating in the beginning because I wasn’t sure if I had been out too long to have the knowledge to keep up with the kids fresh out of high school,” Matt Madina, a 30-year-old math major, said.

Diaz said he feels it is natural for younger students to want to work in groups with classmates their own age and avoid the older students.

“Our learning styles growing up were so different and it was hard to work with the older students at first,” he said.

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