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Success Story - Jeff Windau 

In hindsight, Tiffin native Jeff Windau made the right decision. Now he's reaping the benefits.

Graduating from Tiffin Columbian High School after an admittedly "mediocre academic performance," Windau worked several jobs, played music and saved enough money to make one of several choices.

"I could buy a real nice motorcycle, buy some new music gear, or I could attend Terra Technical College in Fremont," he said. "I attended the electro-mechanical/robotics program at Terra and became a student at a facility with an approach to learning that I later found was unique."

Windau liked everything he saw at the school, which later became Terra Community College.

"My instructors were people with real-life experiences which they shared and applied in the classroom," he said. "Classroom sizes were reasonable and allowed for proper attention to each student's needs. And most importantly, Terra versus other more expensive and overcrowded universities offered hands-on experience."

It was the opportunity to learn by doing that impressed Windau the most.

"At most universities you would read about physics and then read how to apply the laws," he said. "Terra's approach to teaching by using equipment in real automated applications maintained my interest and allowed me to learn by applying technologies and physics, not just read about it."

Windau took his associate degree from Terra and after two more years at a state university, parlayed it into a bachelor's degree.

"However, without hesitation, I can say that the core knowledge that I have used throughout my career was obtained at Terra," he said.

Windau spent many successful years in technical sales and marketing, including several corporate relocations for career advancement.

In 2000, he started a manufacturers' representative firm covering the southeastern U.S. Automation Support Group, in Peachtree City, Georgia, is a technical sales organization focused on machine logic and motion control technologies. His company provides product sales and territory management for manufacturers of automation components. And it provides technical consultation and support for customers ranging from automotive, packaging, medical, military and other industries utilizing automation.

Windau, the president of Automation Support Group, said he's more than comfortable telling customers about his educational background at Terra.

"The response that I often get from engineers who attended even some of the most respected universities in our country is that their program did not offer near what I experienced at Terra," he said.

"An instructor at Terra repeatedly told my class that we would graduate being better prepared than most others in the job market. And I believed him, but I didn't know just how right he was. My resume right out of college read like I was an experienced candidate, and I was."

As he progressed into a position to hire employees, reviewing hundreds of resumes made it even more evident that very few recent graduates could claim any hands-on experience like he had at Terra.

Windau is thankful that he lived just miles from the Terra campus and was able to find his way there. And, his story has a happy ending after all.

"I did eventually buy a very nice motorcycle and plenty of music gear thanks to the monetary rewards that a good education offers," he said.

Web 9/21/07