Success Story - Duane Dunavan

Meet our Cerritos College Machine Tool Technology Program student, Duane Dunavan! He's taken a plethora of classes at Cerritos College, has excelled with a cumulative GPA of 3.950, and works full time in the Machine Tool Technology Industry!

MTT Student, Duane, in front of the Machine Shop

1. When did you first attend Cerritos College?

I started 3 years ago. I have taken my General Education, as well as classes in Welding, MTT, Photoshop, Video Editing, and Woodworking. I have earned my Certificate of Achievement as a Numerical Control Tool Programmer already. And my goal is to get an A.A. in MTT.

 

2. What interested you in MTT?

I took the ET 100 Electronics class in the Machine Shop. The class was a discovery class for high school students. We spent our time working on projects, and after the class I wanted to continue to do more. Now I have two classes left in the MTT program.

 

3. What do you do now?

I work full-time at a Machine Shop making permanent molds. I work at Western Mold Engineering in Artesia. We can create models for Aerospace, Automotive, the Food and Retail Industry, and more. We create molds for wheels and trucks, engine blocks, soda machines, vacuum molds for plastic containers like items at Costco.

Duane working on a machine

4. How has Cerritos College MTT prepared you?

I would recommend the program to others. It taught me a lot of the basics and it is a stepping stone on how to run machines, set up parts, learning the concepts of cutting material. I discovered that there is always more to learn. I want to continue my education and learn more about the ENGT side by taking classes on SolidWorks and AutoCAD. With those classes I can learn to create the design, and then using my knowledge from MTT classes I can import the design to MasterCAM (computer aided manufacturing) and make the product.

 

5. What advice would you give to others?

Learn everything you can and take good notes because one you get in the real world you need that knowledge.

 

6. What do you want to do in the future?

I am interested in teaching what I learned in MTT. Possibly own my own shop...or get into inspections using Verisurf (computer aided inspection).