When Marcia Anderson wanted more from her career in manufacturing, she made it happen at FVTC.

Marcia Anderson, a 35-year-old native of Neenah, started working at nearby United Plastic Fabricating (UPF) a couple years out of high school. Though she was working for a leading manufacturer of products in the fire and trucking industries, Anderson wanted to advance her career.

“My manager suggested that more education would help me advance,” she states. “Fox Valley Tech’s Quality Assurance certificate program had what I needed in terms of curriculum and online convenience, so I started working toward certification.”  

Anderson not only earned her certificate, she also enrolled in FVTC’s Quality Engineering Technology (QET) associate degree program. “Kudos to Janet Braun, the QET department chair, and her team for designing a program that is so beneficial to the real world,” says Anderson. “Most of the classes immediately impacted my position. I improved my technical capabilities as well as skills in problem solving, data analysis and communications.”

Anderson graduated from the QET program in fall of 2016. Today, she is overseeing quality for three facilities at UPF. She also serves as an ISO coordinator—an internationally-recognized level of certification that ensures products and services are safe, reliable and of the highest quality.

The hard work involved in returning to school has certainly helped Anderson build her career. “I was 30 years old and my second child was a year old,” she recalls. “It was a lot of work, but I could take one or two classes a semester. Plus, I took advantage of taking classes online and studying after the kids were in bed.”

Anderson thanks her family for support, UPF for its encouragement and education assistance program and FVTC for providing personalized instruction and guidance. “The college’s staff and instructors kept me on track and showed me how to succeed,” she says.