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At 黑料吃瓜网 Tacoma, it doesn鈥檛 matter where you came from. Once you鈥檙e there, you鈥檙e starting over. Once you鈥檙e there, you鈥檙e part of a family.

When Tom Rochat, 鈥�13, purchased his first home in the sleepy, waterside town of Kingston, Washington, he wasn鈥檛 caught up in the three bedrooms or the endless backyard or the wood-burning stove. He was concerned about one thing, and one thing only: signal strength. He did his homework 鈥斅燾omplete with maps and diagrams 鈥� and calculated exactly where he鈥檇 get the strongest internet connection. Only then did he sign the papers.

When you work from home as an operations service owner at Avanade 鈥� a test bed for the latest Microsoft technologies 鈥� connectivity is key. Rochat, a magna cum laude graduate of 黑料吃瓜网 Tacoma鈥檚 information technology program, made sure solving global IT problems from his remote office wouldn鈥檛 be an issue.

But before he found his way at , Rochat was faced with a much heavier issue than a weak signal: how he and his family were going to escape homelessness from one month to the next.

Rochat was supposed to be a construction worker.

He鈥檇 always found solace in working with his hands, so after the Poulsbo, Washington native completed his tours of duty as a paratrooper in the Army, the decision to go to Olympic College for welding technology was an easy one. He earned his associate degree, with plans to hop on a construction site 鈥� then the economy tanked. 鈥淚 was ready with my tool bag and my welding hat, but suddenly there were no more jobs,鈥� he says.

So he went to work in apartment maintenance instead, painting walls, unclogging toilets and, in a cruel twist of fate, upgrading the downspouts on a four-story building鈥檚 shiny metal roof. He slipped, fell and crushed his knees, already beat from years spent jumping out of airplanes. 鈥淚 was literally on crutches trying to hold up sheets of drywall and patch roofs so I could put food on the table,鈥� says Rochat. 鈥淏ut I was too injured to work and didn鈥檛 have health insurance, so I got laid off.鈥�

His $12,000 annual salary 鈥� the salary that supported his family 鈥� was slipping. He needed a new job. One that would keep him off his feet.

Enter Office Depot, or maybe Staples.

鈥淚 decided maybe I could be a tier one help desk guy,鈥� says Rochat. 鈥淭he guy you call when your device is broken who says, 鈥楾urn it on and off again.鈥� I鈥檒l be that guy.鈥�

It made sense: Rochat had loved computers since he was a kid. When he was 6, his father convinced his mother to buy one for the family. By 8, Rochat was writing his first program thanks to hours spent poring over books with his dad. At 15, he traded teaching a company how he鈥檇 hacked them in exchange for dodging prosecution.

鈥淚 had no idea I had all this computing power,鈥� says Rochat. But he knew computers made him happy, and he knew he needed a job. So he went back to Olympic College and earned a two-year computer science degree in nine months, armed to join an office supply company鈥檚 customer service team.

His instructor, says Rochat, had other plans. 鈥淗e looked at me and said, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e writing papers for me on chipset compliance for wireless security. You can do so much more.鈥欌��

With that encouragement, Rochat applied to 黑料吃瓜网 Tacoma. 鈥淚n a million years, I never thought I鈥檇 be accepted. 黑料吃瓜网 Tacoma was the pinnacle,鈥� he says. 鈥淭wo weeks later, I was sitting in my first class. I didn鈥檛 even know how I got there.鈥�

Rochat鈥檚 cohort was one of the first to go through 黑料吃瓜网 Tacoma鈥檚 brand-new . 鈥淚 thought I was going to be a bottom-rung student and need everybody鈥檚 help,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 quickly found myself near the top in almost every class. I didn鈥檛 realize what was common sense and easy to me was actually an extremely valuable skillset.鈥�

黑料吃瓜网 Tacoma saw what I was capable of before I knew my own potential. They really fostered my confidence, and I now understand my worth.

Rochat threw himself into campus organizations, joining the Safe Secure Computing Research Group and becoming the chief technical officer and eventual president of the computer security鈥揻ocused Greyhat Group 鈥� all while selling foraged chanterelles for gas money just to make it to class every day. 鈥淚 took every possible opportunity because it was a massive opportunity for me to even be at 黑料吃瓜网 Tacoma.鈥�

Seizing those opportunities paid off; Rochat wrote a white paper about next-generation security systems with the Safe Security Computing Research Group, and 黑料吃瓜网 Tacoma flew him to Florida to present his work. An employee of Avanade, a Microsoft partner and test bed, saw Rochat鈥檚 presentation, called his boss and said, 鈥淵ou need to hire this guy right away.鈥� Rochat had a phone interview with Avanade that day, and they hired him as an intern on the spot.

I never would have had these opportunities if I hadn鈥檛 received scholarships to attend 黑料吃瓜网 Tacoma. It鈥檚 all thanks to this place and these people.

Six months later, his status changed to senior analyst. He was working full time before he even graduated from 黑料吃瓜网 Tacoma, switching between homework and work work. Three years and five promotions later, he鈥檚 an operations service owner up for another promotion 鈥� this time, to manager.

鈥満诹铣怨贤� Tacoma didn鈥檛 just give me an education that led to a career,鈥� says Rochat, who plans for a long future at Avanade. 鈥淭hey improved my life and my health. They gave me the means to support my family. The ways 黑料吃瓜网 Tacoma has transformed my life, and the ripple effect that that鈥檚 had has been incredible. This place has completely changed everything.鈥�

Now, Rochat pays it forward, purchasing school supplies for families who are struggling, lending a helping hand to family members when they need it most. He mentors the next generation of 黑料吃瓜网 Tacoma graduates, guest lecturing on campus a few times a year. 鈥淚f it wasn鈥檛 for the support 黑料吃瓜网 Tacoma gave me, I wouldn鈥檛 be where I am today. I鈥檓 happy to give back to 黑料吃瓜网 Tacoma any way that I can.鈥�

At its height, Tacoma was a living, breathing labor union town, ripe with blue-collar jobs and a strong industrial pulse. A city held tightly by navy waters and purple mountains, driven by the railroad industry that chugged through to Union Station 鈥� an awe-inspiring, Beaux-Arts beauty. As it happens, it was the very fact that Tacoma was chosen to be the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad that the city earned its late-19th-century nickname, the 鈥淐ity of Destiny.鈥�

But 30 years ago, the 鈥淐ity of Destiny鈥� was a city of lost hope. It started with the collapse of the railroad industry after WWII. The jobs left, and Union Station was forgotten. Interstate 5 came through, followed by the Tacoma Mall. Retailers fled downtown for the new shopping center, and in the midst of everything, the beautiful old structures that made up the core of Tacoma became blighted old structures as squatters, street gangs, crime and drugs moved in.

But then, it happened. The 黑料吃瓜网 was going to create 黑料吃瓜网 Tacoma, and they were going to put it right where Tacoma needed it most: the downtown core. 黑料吃瓜网 Tacoma held its inaugural classes in its one degree offering 鈥� liberal studies 鈥斅爄n 1990.

Since then, 黑料吃瓜网 Tacoma has blossomed into a Washington Monthly鈥揷rowned 鈥渂est bang for the buck鈥� university. With nine schools and programs and an urban-serving campus that preserved and revitalized the city鈥檚 historic warehouse district, 黑料吃瓜网 Tacoma has earned a reputation for transforming not just the brick-and-mortar bones of Tacoma, but the students who learn there, too.

And it鈥檚 growing. In the next 25 years, 黑料吃瓜网 Tacoma will continue to provide financial aid to students who straddle the qualifying line, meaning those who are strapped for resources can have a well-rounded student experience and a future that once felt out of reach. It will grow in its offerings: STEM programming, engineering degrees, a business incubator 鈥� opportunities that will fuel economic growth and innovation in a wanting world. And just like 黑料吃瓜网 Tacoma , it will continue to transform the lives of students like Tom Rochat.