Mia Haas persevered through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic to complete her Associate in Arts Emphasis in Counseling and Applied Psychological Science from Mesa Community College.

“The fall semester was the hardest,” said Haas, 20, of Mesa. “Switching to doing everything online was a big adjustment, but MCC has been great with the transition.”

For Haas, overcoming difficulties is something she’s familiar with and what led her to choose her counseling career path.

“I’ve seen the benefit of counseling in my own life,” Haas said. “Living in a family involved with foster care and doing volunteer work with the homeless community has demonstrated the impact these services have on people.”

Haas, a homeschooled student, initially heard about MCC’s Red Mountain Campus from many people because it was close to her home.

She chose the MCC counseling degree, the first of its kind in the nation, because it provided the first two years of a four-year curriculum for students wishing to specialize in counseling and applied psychological science.

Haas plans to transfer to Arizona State University to earn a Bachelor of Science in Counseling and Applied Psychological Science within the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts. Her goal is to work as a licensed substance abuse, addiction and chemical dependency counselor for adolescents and women.

“MCC has opened a lot of new opportunities for me,” Haas said. “I even ended up liking the classes that were out of my comfort zone, like math.”

She credits MCC college algebra professor Tara Jones with helping her acquire a love of math. Haas said one of her favorite MCC experiences was meeting during office hours with other math students, who bounced ideas off each other and tackled assignments with a sense of fun.

She found academic advisor Jocelyn Mandal to be extremely helpful as well.

“She was awesome and made sure I had all the classes I needed,” Haas said.

During her time at MCC, Haas was a member of Phi Theta Kappa, earned a President’s Honors Scholarship and completed service learning hours. In 2021 she was one of three MCC students named an All-Arizona Academic Scholar, recognized for outstanding academic accomplishments and distinguished leadership.

“I’ll never forget when MCC Interim President Lori Berquam presented me with my All-Arizona medal,” Haas said. “I could see how much she cared. I could tell she was proud of us, and bummed the ceremony was virtual.”

Hass said she would tell other students the benefits of attending MCC.

“It’s really a community that offers so many opportunities,” she said. “They shouldn’t be afraid about not having a real college experience. It opened a lot of doors for me.”