KCC Stories: KAMA grad Anthony Gibbs lands a job in manufacturing, returns to KCC to become an electrician

KCC student Anthony Gibbs poses with an electrical trainer at the RMTC campus in Battle Creek.

Anthony Gibbs was having trouble finding work in 2015. Then he found himself in Kellogg Community College’s Advanced Manufacturing Assembly (KAMA) Training Program.

Today, Gibbs is employed in the auto manufacturing industry as a quality engineer at Advanced Special Tools, Inc., in Battle Creek. Now a graduate of the KAMA Program, he also holds an Industrial Electricity and Electronics Certificate from KCC and is well on his way to an associate degree on his path to become an industrial electrician.

“It more than prepared me,” Gibbs says of the KAMA Program. “I’d never worked in a factory before. Everything that I learned at KCC, to know everything, that was actually essential.”

The four-week KAMA program offers participants a chance to get experience on a working manufacturing line and training in a variety of manufacturing skill sets and production concepts. Gibbs says the program made him feel more comfortable going into his first manufacturing job after graduation.

“It’s a great program,” Gibbs says. “It’s actually preparing you for the workforce.”

Gibbs says the KAMA Program was a good stepping stone not just for those looking for employment, but for those looking to continue their education, as well. Gibbs himself is more than halfway to his associate degree, and AST is paying for continuing ed so he can learn more about the work he’s doing in quality.

“I would say to anybody from the KAMA Program, to continue on to look into Industrial Technology and so on,” Gibbs says. “They continue what you’re gonna learn from the KAMA program.”

Join the KAMA Program

For more information about KCC’s KAMA Program or other manufacturing training programs at KCC, visit www.kellogg.edu/work or contact Workforce Solutions Career Coordinator Casey Fairley at 269-565-2804 or fairleyc@kellogg.edu or Career Coach Roy Tooke at 269-565-7979 or tooker@kellogg.edu.

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