When Eric Walters’ company offered to let him donate to any charity he chose, it was an easy choice for him when he saw MiraCosta College on the list.

“That was perfect,” he said. “That’s what I wanted to contribute to because they did so much for me.”

Walters, who now works as an art director at Confidant, an advertising agency in Nashville, Tennessee, said his time at MiraCosta College turned his love for art into a career in graphic design that he loves.

“The professors were awesome and treated everyone like adults,” he said. “They engaged the students with relevant coursework. It felt current.”

Walters, who grew up in San Diego, said he wasn’t a good student in high school and didn’t do well went he attended another community college. “I was too busy partying and playing music,” he said.

His family moved to Oceanside, across the street from MiraCosta College, and after three years of selling men’s suits, he started taking art classes simply for enjoyment.

“That was my thing,” he said. Walters said. “Art was always my passion.”

A class in graphic design helped him realize his passion for art could become a career.

“That graphic design course made sense and I was good at it off the bat,” he said. “I started running with all the design classes I could take.”

He graduated from MiraCosta College in 2014 with degrees in graphic design and art studio. Although he had earned a transfer degree, he was able to get a job with his associate degree.

“MIraCosta’s design program focused on hands-on principles of design,” Walters said. “I was able to go straight into the workforce because I had the program skills.”

Walters first worked as a catalog artist for a San Diego apparel company, then moved to Florida to work in advertising and marketing for an academic research software company. He returned to San Diego to work in the creative department for Sony Electronics. Walters said a big factor in getting hired at Sony was his portfolio that included designs he had created while at in a Photoshop class at MiraCosta College.

Walters and his wife moved to Nashville in 2022 to work with an advertising agency that worked with Sony. Walters said he enjoys the relaxed atmosphere and the opportunity to travel around the country on commercial shoots as part of his job.

He’s thankful for the teachers he had at MiraCosta College that led to his career.

“The design teachers were all super good,” he said. “They created projects that still stick with me and apply to my work today.”