Anton Kelo kindly shared his experience of studying engineering at Chesterfield College and how the experience has enabled him to progress to university.
Where it started
“I started at Chesterfield College on a Level 1 Light Vehicle Maintenance and Repair course because I love cars. On the course, I was able to gain really important skills about automotive maintenance which will help with my cars but also worked as a catalyst for my interest in engineering. My goal at the time was to find a job at a garage and work on cars, but after some thought, I decided that I wanted to go to university.
The careers team at Chesterfield College gave Anton options
I had some meetings with the college’s careers team who helped me by providing information about further education and gave me my options. I am now on track to study Mechanical Engineering at Nottingham Trent University. Due to my decision to study this course at university, the careers team switched me from my Level 2 Light Vehicle Maintenance and Repair course onto a Level 2 Mechanical Engineering course where I learned important skills that just drove me to want to study engineering further.
Moving from a level 2 engineering course to a level 3 course
The level 2 course allowed me to get hands-on experience with engineering machinery which enabled me to start working on projects in my own time.
My final year at Chesterfield College was spent doing a Level 3 Electrical Engineering Course which taught me very important information about electrical circuits and made me feel more confident with electrical machines. This allowed me to explore more electrical-based builds in my free time like soldering custom joints into a Volvo indicator stalk switch to give a signal through a USB which I use as a part of my simulator driving rig.
Progressing to studying mechanical engineering at university
I am looking forward to getting to use the facilities at the university to gain further knowledge and skill with engineering equipment as well as getting to work independently on long term builds.
The college has provided me with support
I would recommend this course as a way to get into university or as a way to find an apprenticeship like many others on my course have done. The college has provided me with the support I have needed at basically every step of my experience. Between each year I have been in contact with the careers team and my tutors to make sure the course I was applying for was right for me.”
