By Paula Limba

A few weeks ago, I met with Dan-Herley Mathieu in Hildreth Hall to videotape the third interview for the 5-minute Student Interviews series. Dan, who is a student in Business Administration major at SMCC, is from Haiti, where he spent 18 years with his family.

He was brought to SMCC through an educational program that happens every year in Haiti. This program consists of choosing two or three brilliant students during the senior year in high school who come to the United States in order to complete their education.

Dan lives on campus and meets many people everyday and has lots of friends with whom he works out at the gym, eats at the dining hall and shares plenty of others activities.

He has been in other states when he was younger, but once in Maine, he enjoyed living here and felt comfortable being here because “Mainers are so cool; they are really nice people,” he said. “I love Maine.”

As one of Dan’s dreams is to become an international business lawyer, he has other dreams he would like to achieve; not getting married or having a family, as many would think, but contributing to the development of his country by building houses for families who don’t have a place to live, and also by building schools for children to promote literacy through education. For Dan, SMCC is providing a good education and there is a good connection between students and instructors.