A MCAC Story: Alex Shoop

As a high school student in Muskegon, MI, Alex Shoop benefited from having a college adviser who was a recent graduate of Michigan State University. His adviser was “super impactful on [his] journey to college,” as he notes that only 11 students from his graduating class at Muskegon Oakridge High School earned a bachelor’s degree. While he describes that “there are a lot of factors in Muskegon where college wasn’t really the main goal for a lot of students,” support from Shoop’s family led him to begin his undergraduate degree in Florida and transfer to the University of Michigan during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A biology major, Shoop’s ultimate goal was to attend dental school, but he knew he’d take a gap year to work on his application. Citing the influence of his adviser, Shoop decided to extend that one year into two and committed to becoming an MCAC adviser, where he worked at Ypsilanti Community High School.

“Our program director, Michael Turner, does a tremendous job of enhancing the skills we have and working on skills we might lack. It truly shaped me, I believe, into a stronger candidate [for graduate school]. Now I come not only with biology knowledge, but my involvement in this social space and working in underserved communities really broadens my perspective.”

Additionally, Shoop has worked to give back to his Muskegon community, forming Great Lakes Empowered Scholars, a nonprofit that focuses on mitigating education inequity in higher education. Connecting to his interest in medicine and dentistry and spurred by his work in Ypsilanti with “a large population of refugees, immigrants, homeless students, and many first-generation students of color,” the nonprofit has “helped develop [his] passion for education as a social determinant of health.”

“MCAC has truly expanded my career opportunities and was the main reason I joined Thrive Summer Academies as an Assistant Site Director over this summer too.” In the fall of 2024, Alex began his doctoral degree in Pharmacy at Virginia Commonwealth University.

This story originally appeared in “Celebrating 15 Years of Educational Outreach.”