By JOE VINDUSKA
BCC
Barton alum and Larned native Kindric Castro landed a job at USD 428 as the Assistant Network and Google Workspace Administrator before he’d earned his Network Security Specialist certificate, thanks to the skills he had gained through the curriculum.
“It's the whole reason I'm here,” he said. “The program gave me the skills, my instructor gave me the introduction, and I was hired before I'd even finished. Today, I help manage the network and Google environment for around 3,500 staff and students. There's a straight line from Barton to every part of my career.”
Since graduating, he’s also joined the district’s AI Integration Team and is helping to strategically guide the district into the uncharted territory of AI in education.
“I didn't plan on a leadership role at 24, but the technical background allowed me to step into it,” he said.
Barton’s labs and coursework were modeled around real-life scenarios, which Castro said was paramount to his success.
“Everything was built around actual working systems that weren't watered down for a classroom,” he said. “The labs gave you access to everything you needed and more, so you had to figure out which tools actually solved the problem. That was the closest thing to seeing how networking really works behind the scenes, and it's the work I lean on most now.”
Course design and quality instruction gave Castro the skills and knowledge base he needed to succeed, but Barton’s flexibility is what made it possible for him to earn while he learned.
“The biggest thing for me was being able to work while enrolled,” he said. “I was working the whole time I was at Barton, and because the Networking Specialist Certificate could be done online with electronic textbooks, I could do my coursework from anywhere and still keep a job.”
Castro said affordability was also key to his decision in choosing Barton.
“You don't always need a four-year degree and countless loans to get started,” he said. “You need a program that teaches you real systems and instructors who want to help you understand them. Barton gave me both, and I was working in my field a year before I graduated. A couple of years at Barton changed my life and brought me where I am today.”
Castro also took computer science classes on campus while becoming a national champion on the Barton eSports team, giving him the confidence to encourage Great Bend High School to start its own team. He is also on the team's coaching staff.
“Barton opened up a world outside my own,” he said. “I was sitting in class with people from countries I'd never even heard of, sharing stories and building friendships I never would have had otherwise. Barton eSports helped me develop my competitive maturity and shaped me into someone professional and ambitious, yet still positive and collaborative. Somewhere in there, I went from being the kid who broke the family internet router to being one of the people a whole district counts on when something goes down. That's a kind of confidence you don't get from a textbook.”
While committed to always learning and evolving along with technology, Castro said he will always remember the foundation he built at Barton.
“Barton taught me how to learn and adapt as a networking specialist, which turned out to matter more than any single thing I memorized,” he said. “That's the part people may not realize. The certificate or degree isn't the finish line; it's what makes everything after it possible.”
To learn more, visit networking.bartonccc.edu.