As Washtenaw Community College prepares to celebrate its 60th anniversary, we recognize
the thousands of alumni who turned opportunity into achievement. For six decades,
WCC has opened doors to education, careers and brighter futures — and these 60 Stories that will be compiled over the year reflect that enduring mission.
The night before starting classes at Washtenaw Community College in the Fall of 2016, Michael Kozma laid in bed contemplating his future. He grabbed his phone from the nightstand and typed into Google: "How to succeed in college."
Not surprisingly, the search did not result in any secret formula. But Kozma did find one all on his own over his two years at WCC. He says the recipe was a dash of maturity on his part and the heaping scoops of knowledge and confidence piled on him by WCC faculty, counselors and advisors.
Before attending WCC, Kozma was a college dropout who hadn’t earned an A in a class for nearly a decade. At WCC, he completed 66 credits with a perfect 4.0 GPA and went on to earn a bachelor's degree in Economics and a master's degree in Applied Data Science from the University of Michigan.
After stints as an undergraduate research assistant and a data science intern at U-M, Kozma was hired as a Development, Security and Operations Engineer with Northrop Grumman, a Virginia-based defense and space manufacturing firm.
Not bad for a self-described mediocre student who graduated from Chelsea High School with a 2.6 GPA in 2008, followed by one regrettable year at a small four-year college, where he rarely went to class and essentially flunked out.
From there, Kozma enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he was an infantryman and sniper who served tours in Afghanistan, Kuwait and the Arabian Peninsula. Upon discharge, he remained in Colorado – he was stationed at Fort Carson, near Colorado Springs – and sold cars for a year before moving back to Michigan with his wife to be closer to family.
Back in Chelsea, he worked as a security guard and delivered pizza. He also spent a lot of time slumped on his parents’ couch, cloaked in self-doubt, pondering his future.
“Here I am, an Army veteran who had done a half Ironman and I’m still questioning myself. ‘Is this who I am?’ You start to perceive yourself differently,” Kozma said. “Eventually you think, ‘Maybe this is my lot in life. Maybe I don’t have the ambition to go any further.’ But with a little encouragement, everything starts changing.”
Everything did change when Kozma enrolled in general education courses in preparation to apply to the Police Academy at WCC, which requires a minimum of 45 college credits. He was a good infantryman who reacted well in high-stress situations, so the Police Academy seemed like a logical next step.
Kozma never got around to applying to the Police Academy. Not because of more failure. Because of unprecedented success. He finished that first semester with a whole new world of possibilities ahead of him.
That heavy weight of self-doubt Kozma had experienced before enrolling at WCC seemed to be lifting at every turn. There was a Calculus instructor who convinced Kozma he would excel if he put in the work. He was right. There was the student advisor who assured him being accepted to Michigan wasn’t a pipe dream despite that disastrous first attempt at a four-year institution. She was right, too.
“I think a lot of people at WCC doubt themselves, just like I did in so many ways,” Kozma said. “But the teachers do believe in you, and that can make all the difference.”
During his final semester at WCC, Kozma was putting in 40-hour weeks with the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program at U-M. At the orientation for the program, organizers suggested the student employees should not also take summer classes. Kozma did, anyway.
“I’m a little cocky at times,” he admits.
Kozma enrolled in a demanding Calculus 3 class and completed his clean-sweep of perfect grades, finishing a 66-credit transfer guide specifically prepared for WCC students headed to U-M’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.
Oh, and to fill his barely-existent free time over that same summer, Kozma also worked part-time in a bike shop and trained for an Ironman competition.
“I ended up at WCC through some happenstance, and it was the exact right time and place in my life,” he said.
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This is an updated version of a story that first appeared in the August 2018 edition of On The Record.
Tags: 60 Stories, Alumni Profile