2025 Meet OCC Grad: Kiana Garrison

Kiana Garrison sees her journey to graduation a little like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Even though she didn’t have a yellow brick road to follow, her path did have plenty of twists and turns as well as obstacles along the way. 

“Dorothy really didn’t know what was going on, and neither did I. I realized most people don’t know what’s going on when they first step into college,” shares Kiana. “Throughout Dorothy’s path, she realizes that she has all these friends, and they also are going through things. At the end, we all had everything that we needed from the beginning—we just needed to have more confidence and strive for it.”

“Follow the yellow brick road” – Kiana’s long and winding road to graduation

Kiana’s path to graduation was never a straight line. Trying different schools and programs, Kiana had to restart her journey several times. Not sure where to turn, she remembered her time competing with her robotics team in high school. That’s when her destination became clear.

“I really like working with my hands,” she recalls. “When I was in high school, I was on the robotics team, and it went from the basics of robotics to competitions, and I was really into that. But in high school I was doing a bazillion other things, so I forgot about it. Once I got back into it, I thought, ‘Well, that’s something I really like doing.’ So that’s how I got back into robotic engineering.”

“There’s no place like OCC” 

Encouraged by her professors, Kiana progressed and excelled through the program. She found her place at OCC’s Auburn Hills campus despite it being 40 minutes from her home in Farmington Hills. But to Kiana, the drive was worth it.

“I like robots, and I wanted to help things progress faster and better,” she says. “I would like to be a part of that movement. The reason this was worth all the effort is because OCC has one of the largest robotic labs. They have more robots here than at any other school I’ve been to, so it allowed me to have more real-world opportunities.”

OCC’s participation in conferences such as Automate, the largest robotics and automation event in the Americas, inspired her to connect with robotics companies and meet potential employers. She thrived in OCC’s robotics-focused environment, where industry-grade equipment gave her the skills that would translate into eventual job opportunities. She completed projects such as a sophisticated palletizing program, which combined knowledge from multiple courses and sharpened her ability to collaborate, think critically, and execute complex tasks. 

But along the way, Kiana also suffered profound loss with the passing of one of her biggest supporters – her father. 

“When I lost my dad, it was really challenging,” she says. “I just had to stay focused because he was one of my biggest cheerleaders. He would say, ‘You know, I’m proud of you. Even though you haven’t finished yet.’”

“He didn’t see me make it to completion, but I was able to persevere, and I realized that even though he’s not here physically, he’s still here with me.”

She found the brains, the heart and the courage to finish her journey

Kiana found strength in his memory and the lessons he instilled in her. “He taught me perseverance,” she added. 

“When I walk across the stage, my feelings will be euphoric relief,” she says. “Being in college, I also work full time, but now I’ll be able to just go to a job that I like and be there. I won’t have to be in one place and thinking about another. I’ll feel complete.

“To my fellow graduates, I would say the fight is over. We did it. There will be more challenges down the road, but if you can make it through college, you can make it out there.”

Kiana Garrison is graduating with an Associate in Applied Science – Robotics/Automated Systems Technology. Kiana is looking forward to starting a career in robotics and collaborating with others to shape the future. She joins more than 1,700 OCC 2025 graduates empowered to succeed. Join them in starting your someday, today.