USA Today Honors Grad

Miramar College student Michelle Annette Coble is a member of USA Today’s 2000 “All USA Two-Year College Academic First Team.” The competition, co-sponsored by the Phi Theta Kappa honor society, recognizes outstanding community college students nationwide.

Coble, 37, also attends Mesa College and is pursuing a double major in psychology and philosophy with a 4.0 GPA. After graduating (twice, a week apart at Miramar and at Mesa), Coble will attend UC Berkeley and then apply to Yale University to pursue a law degree. Her career ambition is to become an arbitrator/mediator.

According the Pat Keir, Miramar College president, Coble exemplifies so many of our returning community college students, maintaining an outstanding academic record while participating in a wide variety of service and employment settings with excellence.

“When I took my first class with Miramar professor Carmen Jay, I was a returning student who hadn’t been in school for well over a decade. I was nervous and apprehensive that I wouldn’t succeed. She provided me the tools to discover that I could succeed, and got me started in the Honor’s Program, which had a large influence on my award,” Coble said.

Coble served eight years in U.S. Marine Corps and is still a combat medic in the U.S. Army Reserves. While she belongs to many honor societies and civic organizations, the work that holds special meaning for Coble is at a Ramona center for the mentally disabled. She is an advanced instructor, certified by the North American Riders for the Handicapped Association, in a therapeutic riding program she created.

Coble acknowledges the influence of professors Jay, Bill Puett, Mike McPhearson and Norris Charles. “Without the support and family feel that Miramar provides, I am certain that I would never have achieved this kind of recognition or award. I may not have even stayed in school,” she said. “The other side of this coin of success came from Mesa, from which I will also graduate this spring. I am truly a product of both schools. To all of the instructors who have helped me on this journey, thank you.”

Michelle Coble