Breanne Butler, a graduate of Macomb’s culinary program, has had her creations shouted out by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, earned a personal seal of approval from Martha Stewart, and designed pastries for fashion royalty. Not bad for a self-proclaimed “underdog” without the expensive credentials of many around her.

“I’m not culinary royalty,” Butler said. “Don’t forget, there are certain things that are constants. In culinary school, there’s only one way to make a chiffon cake or pasta dough. You could learn for $1,000 or you could learn for $100. I’ve witnessed it throughout my career – I’ve hired people who spent $90,000 on their education, and at the end of the day it’s all about technique, drive, and passion.”

Butler said that growing up between Roseville, Sterling Heights and Detroit, “the thought of going to a university or spending tens of thousands of dollars on education was always daunting.” She dual enrolled at Macomb while still in high school, saving money for her later studies and the opportunities that waited beyond them.

“There is no way I would have been able to move to New York if I had student debt,” she said. “Macomb is a gold mine. Don’t scoff at them or think, ‘oh, but I’m going to miss out on college.’ It might seem like missing out in the moment because you don’t have the dorm, fraternity, sorority, or whatever, but long-game, you’re putting yourself in a better position.”

After putting her degrees in practice at a bakery in Royal Oak, Butler moved to New York City, worked her way up to sous chef at a Michelin-starred restaurant, became Facebook’s in-house pastry chef (making viral creations like a “dessert slider” spread of cheeseburger cupcakes, sugar cookie fries and raspberry jam ketchup), and now runs her own company that’s catered to a diverse group of cultural heavyweights. She’s also finding ways to use her cooking talents to address the issues of sexism she says she’s faced throughout her career.

“The thought of people calling me right away – ‘can you come in?’ ‘can you come in?’ – is mind-blowing; I was so used to it being a struggle to find a job,” she said. “I’m so thankful for Macomb because they teach you the technique, they teach you the building blocks, then they say, ‘be creative with it.’”

Mason Lewis jumped on a fast track to an engineering career while still in high school, and by the time the ambitious 20-year-old exits Wayne State University with a bachelor’s degree she will have accumulated more than five years of computer aided design (CAD) experience at American Axle and Manufacturing (AAM).

“I started out as a co-op (cooperative education student) in November 2015, graduated from Macomb in May 2016 and became a salary employee (at AAM) in June 2016,” says Lewis, who is now pursuing a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. “I work in Design Services, 40 hours a week.”

Just five years ago, Lewis was a sophomore at Warren’s Cousino High School when she found out about the Early College of Macomb.  The collaborative effort between the College and the Macomb Intermediate School District provides eligible students with a free, fast track to an associate degree.  Acknowledging that she often felt bored in her high school classes, it was a pace much to Lewis’ liking.

“With so many different classes there are also different teaching styles, which helps more people succeed,” observes Lewis. “I loved the hands-on classes and being able to choose my electives.”

Lewis excelled in her product design and development classes at Macomb and became the youngest student to ever receive a scholarship from the American Society of Body Engineers Foundation, upon nomination of one of her professors, James Carlson.

“He’s an amazing teacher,” says Lewis. “I’m so glad he saw my potential and did all he could as a teacher to help it flourish. He was the one who sent me to Career Services for co-op (placement).  Macomb has many amazing teachers but Jim helped me get to where I am today.”

At AAM, Lewis updates and creates CAD models and drawings, and coordinates the transfer of data between the company and two of its major customers. AAM provides tuition assistance to its employees that, combined with her regular paycheck and a transfer scholarship from Wayne, means Lewis will graduate debt free.  After she earns a bachelor’s degree, she intends to begin a master’s degree program in either business administration or engineering management.

“I would love to become an engineering manager or lead an engineering department,” says Lewis, who notes all of her credits from Macomb transferred to Wayne.  “I go to school part time so it will take me a little longer to graduate, but it will be worth it.”

Between the new country and the new baby, Maria Daniel was suffering from a bout of separation anxiety after leaving her fulfilling career behind in Europe. When Macomb’s Workforce and Continuing Education Schedule of Classes arrived at her house a little over a year ago, its pages offered up the perfect prescription.

“I really wanted to take something that I already knew about so I could start working as soon as possible,” says Daniel, who had been a pharmacy technician in her native Denmark before moving to Macomb County with her husband, a Michigan native. “I had no idea how pharmacies worked in the U.S.”

Enrolling in the Ambulatory Pharmacy Technician Program offered by Macomb’s Center for Health Careers was an easy decision to make. But since she had completed three years of post-secondary study as required in Denmark to be a pharmacy technician, she wondered if there was anything left to learn.

“I really received a lot of new information and I especially liked the teacher (David Valentine). He made the program,” says Daniel. “It was like a whole package – they explained everything and set up my externship.”

Daniel completed her 100-hour externship, as required by the program, at McLaren Hospital in Mount Clemens. That led to full-time employment following her graduation from the program last summer. And the afternoon shift that she works at the hospital meshes perfectly with her husband’s, so either mom or dad are always home with two-year-old Isabella.

“I love it,” says Daniel, who worked in retail pharmacies in Denmark. “In the hospital, I am taking calls from doctors and nurses. You feel like you are really saving a life. I walk in the hospital every day and think ‘another day, another difference.’”

In response to the growing need for hospital pharmacy technicians, Macomb is adding that as a specialty option to the program beginning this summer. But her training from Macomb combined with her externship at McLaren allowed Daniel to bypass the two years of hospital pharmacy experience that would have otherwise been required.

“If I hadn’t taken the program at Macomb, I would never have been able to work in a hospital pharmacy,” says Daniel, who intends to purse a doctor of pharmacy degree once Isabella is a little older. “And all this information I had, I would never have been able to use. This has been perfect.”

Neal Ruhl’s official title is Director of Broadcasting at Oakland University, but “Voice of the Golden Grizzlies” gives you a much more palpable feel for what he does. Ruhl delivers the thoughtful, high-energy play-by-play broadcast for Oakland’s men’s basketball games, as well as for the Detroit City FC soccer club, United Shore Professional Baseball League in Utica, and occasionally even as a fill-in for the Detroit Pistons.

“I’m where I was meant to be, no questions about it,” Ruhl says. “I went from Macomb Community College to being one of 30 NBA announcers in the world. Think about that. That happened.”

Ruhl, who grew up in Fraser, said an independent study course at Macomb which allowed him to produce his own sports talk radio show, just like the one he hosts now on WDFN, was “the most valuable class I’ve taken in my school career in terms of how it relates to my real-world profession. That’s a fact. It was real-world, practical curriculum.”

When the time came to transfer to Oakland – where he would finish his bachelor’s degree in journalism – Ruhl said Macomb made it easier than he could have imagined.

“The biggest compliment I can give is that I didn’t notice a difference going from Macomb to Oakland – it was that seamless,” Ruhl said. “I met with the advisors at Macomb after every semester, and everything was spelled out – it was very plug-and-play. Academically, I slid right in.”

Ruhl is as big an Oakland University supporter as anyone, given his current leadership role and the ranks he’s climbed there. But he’s similarly enthusiastic about the “perfect springboard” he found at Macomb.

“Don’t concern yourself with the stigma of community college, because especially with the ease of transfer of credits, Macomb was like a university to me. I don’t notice a difference in retrospect. And quite frankly, you’re foolish if you don’t go to Macomb economically,” he said. “I’m really, really happy with my time at Macomb and what it did for me. Looking back on it, my time at Macomb set the wheels in motion for me to be where I’m at today.”

Even after getting her bachelor’s degree and finding her way in the workforce, Katie Feirer still uses the notes she took in her courses at Macomb Community College to guide her career.

The Harrison Township native, who also got experience as a work-study in Macomb’s marketing department before transferring to Michigan State University and graduating with a degree in advertising, now runs her own social media agency, Burlap and Mason Consulting.

“I felt very prepared” transitioning from Macomb to MSU, Feirer said. “I was actually able to transfer most of my credits, thankfully, so I was able to start at a junior level and take the core classes I needed right away.”

Building her list of clients has been an extension of something Feirer learned at Macomb: Networking with people is critical.

“Start with your professors, because you never know who they know,” Feirer said. “Having those connections was so helpful in the job market – sometimes jobs aren’t posted, so knowing someone at the company is super helpful.”

Her other advice: Get out of your comfort zone and get involved in extracurricular activities. Feirer was involved in several, including an adaptive sports club where she took part in hockey, tennis, hand cycling and kayaking.

“That gave me a whole new group of friends I’d never known otherwise,” Feirer said. “Get out and don’t be afraid.”

When other fellow education majors at Saginaw Valley State University confer with her on an assignment, Kaitlyn Farley shares the field work notes from her Introduction to Education course at Macomb.

“Macomb has helped me in so many ways,” says Farley. “Not only in the amount of resources it provided but in the wide variety of things available on campus.  I loved to go the MMII (Macomb Multicultural International Initiatives) programs.  Seriously, I would take any opportunity I could to go to them.”

Farley enrolled at Macomb in eleventh grade as part of the Early College of Macomb program, which is offered in partnership with the Macomb Intermediate School District. She took as many of her general education courses as she could before transferring into Saginaw Valley as a junior.

“When my high counselor told me about it, I thought, ‘Wow, this is really a great opportunity,’” says Farley, who was able to attend Macomb free through the program.  “I knew early on that I was interested in pursuing a degree in secondary education, but I couldn’t afford to go away to school for four years.”

In addition to her studies at Saginaw, Farley is also the paid arts and entertainment editor for The Valley Vanguard, the student newspaper.  In a recent column, she responded in print to a few professors who had questioned the quality of the education she had received at a community college and the transferability of the credits she had earned.

“No, community colleges aren’t less academically rigorous. The hardest college classes I have taken were at MCC. And…all my credits transferred and counted toward my degree,” wrote Farley.  “So, no, professors, I do not regret earning my associate degree first.  In fact, in many ways, I still feel far more connected to MCC than I do to SVSU.”

And part of that connection was an extremely enjoyable “but definitely challenging” Western Civilization class at Macomb that prompted her to change her secondary education focus from English to history.

“I will be subbing in some districts in May and hope that I can teach at a middle or high school in the metro Detroit area after I graduate in 2019,” says Farley. “Because I’ve had such a great experience with past teachers, including the ones I had at Macomb, I can’t wait to pay it forward.”

Melissa Arant knew in high school that she wanted to work in an operating room, but she just didn’t see herself behind the scalpel.  During her first year at Macomb, however, the Anchor Bay high school graduate made a timely discovery.

“I’ve always been intrigued by surgery, but I didn’t know I could get a job in surgery without becoming a surgeon,” says Arant. “I was working as a nursing assistant and taking my prereq classes for nursing when my counselor told me about the Surgical Technology Program.”

Arant appreciated the detailed instruction and mentoring she received from Liz Ness, the program’s coordinator and lead faculty member. An internship at a hospital honed Arant’s skills even further.  When she graduated in 2006, she was hired by Bon Secours (now Beaumont) Hospital in Grosse Pointe.

“The surg tech program at Macomb is exceptional, and Liz Ness is awesome” says Arant.  “I was definitely prepared for the job.”

A surgical technologist is a scrubbed, gowned and gloved member of the surgical team, responsible for sterilizing, arranging and handing surgical instruments to the surgeon. Arant enjoyed the diversity and pace of the job, but after a few years began thinking about the next career move.  That’s when she returned to Macomb to earn her nursing degree.

“I’m glad I didn’t go into nursing first because I wouldn’t have gotten such hands-on experience in the operating room,” says Arant, now afternoon charge nurse in the surgical department at Beaumont.  “If it wasn’t for Liz and the surg tech program, I might not be here. I’m responsible for making sure the surgical team has everything they need for the different types of operations.”

The work, Arant says, “is never boring.” And it’s rewarding to know that her attention to detail makes the operating room safe and efficient for both surgeons and patients. Arant’s weekly schedule of three 12-hour shifts complements her husband Jeremy’s as a radiographer, so either mom or dad is home with daughters Lila, 5, and Ava, 2.  And although she has a full-time job and a young family, Arant continues to look for opportunities to advance, recently adding Certified Operating Room Nurse to her credentials.

“I always want to keep moving forward and learning more,” says Arant, who will likely pursue a bachelor’s degree once her daughters are older. “My main job is facilitating the operating room work flow, but if they need a surg tech, because we don’t have enough of them, I gladly fill in.”