Ex-student, teacher grateful for LCC

By Jonah Unger
Staff Writer

Forest Tate is an LCC alumni, as well as a former teacher at the college. He grew up in Lansing and is now an English teacher at Lincoln Alternative High School.

He first attended LCC in 1995 through 2002, then transferred to Michigan State University. 

“The transfer went very smoothly,” Tate said. 

He taught a one-credit karate class at LCC from 2004 through 2009 while he attended MSU, before the program shut down. He also taught Early College from 2012 through 2014 as a substitute.

He earned a bachelor's degree in social studies from MSU, but returned to LCC to finish the classes he needed for a teaching certificate so that he could teach multiple subjects.

“LCC has better classes than MSU,” Tate said. “As a teacher you have to take X number of college classes. I moved to LCC because of better classes and cheaper classes.” 

Tate struggled with grades in high school, so a big motivation for attending LCC was to boost his grades so he could transfer to MSU. 

“Once I was there I was like, ‘These classes are great,’” Tate said.

The most impactful thing Tate said he learned from LCC was from an English class he took.

“It actually taught me how to write,” Tate said. “That was helpful a lot.”

Another thing that impacted him were the class discussions.

“It opened my mind to wildly different perspectives, from a wide variety of backgrounds that made me think harder,” Tate said.

LCC gave Tate the opportunity to have a job teaching something he loved, karate, as well as experience in teaching, which is what he does now. It also gave him a good opportunity to get into MSU. 

He currently lives in Lansing and has a wife and children.