Student Spotlight: Duke Sturgis

Duke Sturgis had a good job in a machine shop when he heard about a new program at Onondaga Community College and decided to give it a try.

After graduating from Fulton High School in 2014, Sturgis went to work at Nixon Gear on Milton Avenue in Syracuse. It is one of the premier precision gear manufacturing companies in the country. He saw OCC's new Electromechanical Technology degree program as an opportunity he couldn't pass up. "I want to get into CNC (computer numerical control) Machine repair. That line of work aligns really well with the program. I had been looking for a similar program for a while. I was considering moving somewhere to find one, and the timing worked well to come here."

Sturgis enrolled at OCC for the fall 2023 semester which was also the first semester of the Electromechanical Technology program. Because of his industry experience, much of his first semester felt like review. That's changed during this semester. "Now we're getting into the more interesting things like motors and PLC's (programmable logic controllers). Those are the things I want to learn."

When the semester ends, Sturgis will begin preparing to head west. He's been selected for a paid internship at Micron in Boise, Idaho. "I figure it's a good opportunity to learn practical skills. And it will be interesting to spend a few months somewhere else and try it out."