MTC's tech program was “too cool to pass up” for Guthrie HS student.
THEN: A lover of technology, long before high school. When Cody McCuistion heard he could spend half of each day at Meridian Technology Center learning more about what he already enjoyed in his spare time, it was an easy decision for the Guthrie High School student. But then, McCuistion discovered he was also going to earn 68 hours of college credit -- while he was still in high school!
He enrolled in Meridian Tech’s network engineering program and joined Business Professionals of America, the CareerTech student organization affiliated with business, marketing and information technology education. McCuistion said he loved BPA and enjoyed competing at the state and national level.
He said the two-year program at Meridian Tech fast-tracked him to receive industry certifications, knowledge and experience. McCuistion
- Received CompTIA A+ certification, Microsoft Server certifications and Cisco network training.
- Graduated with a high school diploma and essentially a two-year associate degree in the same year, while only paying $5 per credit hour.
- Gained confidence in his abilities through BPA.
“The program led to a jump-start in my career path,” he said.
Although technology has advanced since McCuistion was in school, he said he uses a variation of those network engineering skills every day.
NOW: A solution architect for Hitachi Vantara. McCuistion sets up and delivers proofs of concept and product demonstrations for Hitachi Vantara’s Unified Compute Platform suite of enterprise products.
He has designed and built various server deployments and worked in mission-critical scenarios to restore failed services or resolve performance, reliability or security issues. McCuistion also has experience in highly secure environments tied to the Department of Defense, identifying security vulnerabilities in deployments and engineering ways to close those holes.
McCuistion said CareerTech’s concurrent enrollment options offer students the opportunity to learn skills that apply immediately to their future success. He urged today’s young people to avoid accruing debt for education expenses whenever possible.
“Seek out training in skills that can generate an income stream now and use that income to pay for further education, if that’s wanted or needed down the road,” he said.
