I’m reborn. I’m a whole different person. I don’t recognize the person I was.
When the iron bars of his prison cell clanged shut for the very first time, Tanzel Norman thought he was trapped forever.
The 31-year-old Milwaukee native was starting a six-year sentence in the Wisconsin Department of Corrections after being convicted of numerous felonies.
“Six years sounded like 600 years,” Norman said. “I thought I was never going to get out.”
After several weeks, he started thinking about something else: What could he do to make sure he was never in this position again. “I decided I needed to read; I needed to educate myself,” he said. “The department was offering programs to help, so it made sense to take advantage of those.”
Thanks to Milwaukee Area Technical College’s Second Chance Pell program, Norman earned an associate degree and a Microsoft Desk Support certificate while serving his sentence. And this fall, after being released from prison in June, Norman enrolled in MATC’s Computer Numerical Control (CNC) Technician program at the college’s Downtown Milwaukee Campus.
Along with attending college, Norman has secured a part-time job, spends time with his two children and participates with Correcting the Narrative, a community group working to change the perception of people with criminal records.
Piece by piece, he’s rebuilding his life.
“I’m reborn,” said the soft-spoken Norman. “I’m a whole different person. I don’t recognize the person I was.”
And MATC has played a key role in Norman’s transformation. While in the state’s correctional system, he used the college’s Second Chance Pell grant program, which allows eligible incarcerated students to receive federal money to fund education.
In 2016, MATC was chosen as one of the first institutions in the nation to participate in the Second Chance Pell Experimental Sites Initiative, led by the U.S. Department of Education.
While at Stanley Correctional Institution in Chippewa County, Norman earned a Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Support Specialist certificate. Later, he was transferred to Prairie du Chien Correctional Institution, where he enrolled in MATC’s Associate of Arts program through Second Chance Pell.
MATC offers the program to people serving at 14 of the state’s 20 correctional facilities, said Michael Lozano, MATC’s correctional education coordinator. Classes are virtual, and Lozano travels the state recruiting and advising students.
With more than 250 alumni of the Second Chance Pell program, there are typically over 100 students enrolled in an associates degree or technical diplomas each semester, Lozano said.
MATC also offers welding classes to people serving at Marshall E. Sherrer Correctional Center and Felmers O. Chaney Correctional Center, both in Milwaukee. In that program, between 10 and 12 men take classes at the Education Center at Walker’s Square and can earn a certificate in Welding Fundamentals and a Technical Diploma. A completion ceremony is held each semester at MATC.
In the associate degree program, Norman made the honor roll in spring 2023 and graduated in the spring of 2025, several weeks before he was released. But on the outside, he quickly discovered that he didn’t like many of the jobs available to him with his associate degree, or worse, many of them weren’t available to him because he was a felon.
He decided to enroll in the CNC Technician program. “I needed to do something more physical. I always liked working with my hands, so the CNC program made sense,” he said. “Michael helped me explore these options.”
Lozano himself had spent time in the state correctional system and could relate to what Norman and other men in that system were experiencing.
“I’ve walked in their shoes,” said Lozano, who has been at MATC for three years. “Growing up, I was in and out of jail. One day, sitting in a facility, I had finally had enough, and thought to myself, how did I end up here? That’s when I decided I didn’t want to continue this lifestyle.
Upon release, Lozano got help from people who cared, took classes and eventually earned multiple degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
“It helps a lot to have help from a person like Michael,” Norman said. “There’s a lot of stereotypes and judgment. People think you’ll always be the person you were. Michael didn’t see that. He saw something different.”
It’s important that people being released from prison see there is another way; that they see something positive that can help change their lives, Lozano said. “We show students a new path,” Lozano said. “Because either they do something different or they’re going back to what they were doing.
“MATC’s mission is to serve the community, and we need to remember that these students are part of that community,” Lozano added.
That community should never give up hope, Norman said, no matter how bad the circumstances seem, how dire the consequences feel or how loud the prison bars clang shut at night.
“I would tell others to keep going. Come up with a plan and manifest it — think about it, dream about it. Stick with it and keep your head up,” Norman said. “Something better will come along. I feel I am paving the way for the next group. I hope that I’m making things better for them.”
Learn about MATC’s correctional education program
About MATC: 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.