MATC has given me a solid academic foundation to make my goals attainable. Instructors here are very helpful. When you reach out to them, they respond. They want you to be successful.
A devotion, a duty and a dedication to helping others is bred in the bones of Ankur Kaushal.
Growing up surrounded by his extended family, Kaushal watched his paternal grandparents conscientiously volunteer and serve residents in their hometown of Punjab, a northern state in India.
“Helping others was something embedded in my upbringing,” Kaushal said. “My father’s parents did a lot of work and I would see it.”
Kaushal brought that cooperative, caring spirit with him when he arrived in the United States in 2023, and began taking classes at Milwaukee Area Technical College.
On the first day of a calculus class taught by math instructor Lisa Hugdahl, Kaushul noticed several students didn’t have the required printed material. Without prompting, Kaushal volunteered to take the students to the library and show them how to print, Hugdahl said.
“It was a great way for two new students to begin their MATC journey,” Hugdahl recalled.
Kaushal will serve as the student speaker at MATC’s 2024 Winter Commencement on December 14 at Fiserv Forum where he will receive his Associate of Science degree. He compiled a 4.0 GPA, made the President’s List in the Spring 2024 and Fall 2023 semesters, and has been inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa honor society and the National Society of Leadership and Success.
For his academic achievements, his exemplary involvement at the college and his willingness to help anyone almost anytime, Kaushal was selected as the college’s Outstanding Associate Degree Graduate for Fall 2024.
“Ankur is naturally kind,” said Hugdahl, who routinely came to class and found Kaushal discussing math or working through homework problems with other students. “We have worked together many times and each time he is friendly, polite and open.”
Kaushal also works as a student tutor in mathematics and chemistry. He served as a tour guide at Explore Your Future, a career exploration event held at MATC and sponsored by M³ (pronounced M-cubed), a partnership between MATC, Milwaukee Public Schools and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
He also volunteers at Discovery World, engaging children in various projects and activities designed to make science fun and accessible.
That’s an impressive record for someone who first set foot in the United States on February 28, 2023, when he and his father arrived in Chicago after a 20-hour flight from Delhi.
“When that plane touched down, I was in a country totally new to me. From that point forward, my life changed forever,” Kaushal said. “New people, new faces; I didn’t know anyone. I had never been outside of Punjab before that.”
Kaushal was born and raised in Khanna, a city of 130,000 people known for being Asia’s largest grain market. His father and mother separated, and his father, who had worked as an accountant in India, Hong Kong and Dubai, moved to the United States in 2017.
Kaushal finished high school in Khanna and attended Punjab State Aeronautical Engineering College, studying for two years to be an aeronautical engineer.
By then, his father had remarried, settled in Milwaukee and asked Kaushal if he wanted to move to the United States. “The education here is a very, very good system,” Kaushal said. “I had a chance to do something new and something better.”
Once in Milwaukee, he explored college options. In the summer of 2023, he enrolled in several online courses at MATC. He began in-person classes in the fall of 2023. He considered continuing his engineering degree until he took an anatomy and physiology class taught by Jason Kindschi.
“It was very interesting to learn how everything works in the body. It’s a marvelous piece of engineering, and the parts all work together as one. I was hooked,” Kaushal said.
He decided to get his Associate of Science degree. He plans to earn a bachelor’s degree in either nursing or pharmacy and then apply to medical school.
“MATC has given me a solid academic foundation to make these goals attainable,” he said. “Instructors here are very helpful. When you reach out to them, they respond. They want you to be successful.
“I absolutely made the right decision to come to MATC,” he added. “The people here are close-knit. Advisors help you find the resources you need. Everything is accessible.”
About MATC: As Wisconsin’s largest technical college and one of the most diverse two-year institutions in the Midwest, Milwaukee Area Technical College is a key driver of southeastern Wisconsin’s economy and has provided innovative education in the region since 1912. More than 30,000 students per year attend the college’s four campuses and community-based sites or learn online. MATC offers affordable and accessible education and training opportunities that empower and transform lives in the community. The college offers more than 180 academic programs — many that prepare students for jobs immediately upon completion and others that provide transfer options leading to bachelor’s degrees with more than 40 four-year colleges and universities. Overwhelmingly, MATC graduates build careers and businesses in southeastern Wisconsin. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.