Meet Our Alumni

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.”

Inspiring future leaders toward success

Sarah Zigila has a favorite saying: “Let my haters be my motivators.”

It’s carried the former Macomb student through difficult times when she couldn’t find support for her ambitions, and it’s something she’s shared with countless high school students while working with Winning Futures, a Warren-based non-profit organization that empowers youth to succeed through mentoring, strategic planning, and workforce preparation.

“Even if you don’t have support,” Zigila says, “you can choose your own path.”

Zigila is “an Eastsider through and through” and came to Macomb straight from L’Anse Creuse High School in 2000, but she admittedly “fell off the wagon” during that first year. No one in her family had finished college, and she said it was hard to find the help she needed to continue her education.

But she found a way, returning to get her associate degree from Macomb in 2003 and later earning a bachelor’s in community development from Central Michigan.

“I encourage others often – if you’re confused or unsure, Macomb is a phenomenal school and I strongly recommend it,” Zigila said.

After more than three years at Winning Futures, Zigila is starting a new job as business development executive at Innovative Learning Group in Troy. And this spring, she will earn her master’s degree in training and development from Oakland, proof that persistence pays off.

“It’s something no one can take away from you,” Zigila said. “Other than getting married, it will honestly be one of the happiest days of my life.”

At the nerve center of the nightly news

In his Broadcast Television class at Macomb, Erik Anderson had to produce a 30-minute television show, weekly.  The experience has come in handy working the assignment desk at WXYZ-TV, channel 7.

“If people only knew what it takes to put a news show together,” says Anderson, who earned an associate degree in communications from Macomb in 2004, followed by a bachelor’s degree in the same from Oakland University. “We’re checking out tips, listening to police scanners, sending out crews, and at the end of the day we see the whole puzzle come together and we have a story.”

Anderson was introduced to the broadcast field at South Lake High School, which led to a gig controlling the audio and lighting in its auditorium his senior year.

“But it never seemed like work,” offers Anderson, who went from high school to Specs Howard School of Media Arts, where he earned a one-year certificate.  “After Specs Howard, I knew I needed a degree, and Macomb was my jumping off point for that. At Macomb, I had the chance to explore what I liked about the industry and what I didn’t like.”

While attending Specs and Macomb, Anderson interned at WJR Radio.  A self-described night person, he nevertheless accepted the unpaid internship starting at 5 a.m. He highly recommends that other broadcast-bound students do the same if given the chance. “I learned more in my internship that I ever did in a class,” says Anderson.  “And for those who think they are going to be the next Howard Stern, just keep in mind there is less than a one percent chance of that happening.”

Progressing from internship to part-time producing job, Anderson had hoped to keep advancing toward full-time employment at WJR, but the radio market was entering its grim period and jobs were scarcer than FCC licenses. Applying for a part-time writing position at WXYZ, he was offered a full-time job on the assignment desk instead.  Anderson didn’t hesitate, “Where do I sign?” he asked.

While he misses the technical aspects of his work at WJR, Anderson enjoys the faster pace of a television newsroom, where each day is unpredictable and the next big story might be on the line he just answered.

“The assignment desk is the nerve center,” says Anderson, who sometimes has to huddle with the competition when it comes to calling up the station’s chopper.  “We share one with 2 and 4 and have to vote on whether we want to send it.”

As assignment editor, Anderson interacts regularly with reporters and camera crews, and sometimes the anchors as well.  He works the night desk primarily, from 3:30 to 11 p.m., and is solo after 6 p.m. On occasion, he’s called upon to write a web story or a ticker at the bottom of the screen.

“I’m working in the market I want to be in,” offers Anderson, “And working in the industry I want to be in. And it’s still a lot of fun.”

Alumna pays it forward with teaching career

In eighth grade, a teacher cautioned “think smaller” when Stephanie Messel shared what she hoped would be her life’s work.  She credits a few Macomb faculty, as well as author Stephenie Meyer, for convincing her that there was no limit to what she should dream or could do.

“I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I was in second grade,” says Messel, who earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Wayne State University last year and teaches middle school at My Virtual Academy (MVA). “My learning disabilities left me behind in many areas, but they also helped me succeed in others. Today, I am able to connect to my students on their learning levels because I have been there.”

Students attending MVA often experience difficulty learning in a traditional classroom, as Messel once did.  Assigned early on to special education classes, she worked through her memory and comprehension issues and “grew out of them” by high school.  Still, one learning obstacle still lingered. Enrolling at Macomb, she met with Counselor Patricia Dolengowski and disclosed a debilitating test anxiety. Dolengowski arranged for Messel to take all of her tests at the Learning Center, and soon the education major was outperforming her own, and one former teacher’s, expectations.

“By the time I transferred to Wayne State (at Macomb’s University Center), I no longer needed test-taking accommodations,” says Messel. “Macomb helped me make that transition. I love that school.”

The daughter of two teachers and sister of a John Hopkins professor, Messel also loves teaching.  This year, she is teaching seventh graders math, science, language arts, social studies and history, as well as two electives: journalism and health, which she creatively customized based on the MVA syllabus.

“One of my students asked me if I like my job, because I always sound so happy,” relates Messel, who conducts her classes via computer, Skype and weekly telephone calls to all of her students. “And I do, but I one hundred percent want to experience teaching in a classroom.”

And she is also one hundred percent certain that working at DisneyWorld helped her develop the confidence she needed to teach others.

“What a great experience. That was my living away from home,” says Messel, who spent over a year in the Magic Kingdom, on three different assignments through Macomb’s Career Services.  “It opened me up to different cultures.  I even learned a little bit of Portuguese from one of my roommates.”

Messel also took American Sign Language at Macomb and as many social science and history courses as she could, after discovering in a class on Egypt and from the Twilight books, that she has a passion for  both learning facts and reading fiction. “As long,” she says of the later, “that it has a happy ending.”

And, like her student’s learning issues, happy endings are another thing she knows a little bit about.

“I’m living my dream,” says Messel, who will soon be pursuing a master’s degree in education.  “Macomb helped me prove some people wrong.  You can’t let anyone bring you down. Whatever you want to do, you just have to try.”