I became interested in the electronics field while in high school. I liked gadgets, hands-on work, things like that. I also knew that I could make a good living in the electronics field, so I decided to take the Computer Electronics course at the B. J. Skelton Career Center during my junior and senior years. Halfway through my senior year, I also got involved in an apprenticeship program at Ryobi in which I worked in an industrial environment to apply what I had learned. This program gave me a lot of general training, as well as mechanical, electrical, engineering, and machining skills. When considering the alternatives, I knew that this school-to-work opportunity was the only way to go. I could have wasted my senior year flipping burgers. Instead, I chose to work in industry and to gain valuable experience that will go with me for the rest of my life.

After high school graduation, I kept my apprenticeship at Ryobi while attending Tri-County Technical College in the Industrial Electronics Technology program. I’m really glad I was able to keep my apprenticeship in college because I could apply what I was learning in my courses to a work-based environment. Ryobi also paid some of my college tuition. And, through the Technical Advanced Placement (TAP) process at Tri-County, I didn’t have to take several college courses, like AC and DC Circuits or Digital Electronics, because I could demonstrate that I had equivalent knowledge of these courses. All those computer courses I took in high school really gave me a jumpstart on college!

Two years later, I graduated with my Associate Degree in Industrial Electronics Technology. I worked for about a year at an electronics company before I got my job here at BMW. Now, my high school and college education, plus my work experience, is really paying off! Here, I do all kinds of things: robotics, electronics, mechanics, computers, maintenance, and engineering. I can actually re-design something if I need to. And my education has not ended. The company has sent me to numerous training classes at the local technical colleges, and I have been to Germany and Michigan for training too!