CATLab Bridges Students to Tech Careers
Making the transition from higher education to the professional workforce can be daunting for college graduates. Westmont’s Center for Applied Technology Lab (CATLab) rewrites that narrative by creating a direct bridge to the tech sector.
This summer, the program’s impact reaches new heights through an expansive partnership with Webconnex, an event ticketing company that Westmont alumnus Eric Knopf ’05 co-founded.
Zak Landrum ’08, who directs CATLab, finds the initiative deeply personal. After graduating during a recession as a theater major, he remembers entering what he describes as a professional wasteland. His trajectory shifted when a Westmont parent gave him a crucial career opportunity.
“That pivot point became a huge motivating force for me to be that person for students at Westmont,” Landrum said. “The college is committed to helping them bridge the gap between education and meaningful careers, and I see CATLab as a key expression of that mission.”
Webconnex senior software engineer Kevin Kishiyama ’05, who has worked closely with CATLab students at Westmont’s Keith Center in downtown Santa Barbara, experienced similar challenges and recognizes the value of early preparation. “When I graduated from Westmont, I quickly realized I hadn’t developed some basic skills all adults need to know,” Kishiyama says, “such as how to manage your finances, interview for a job or even apply for a job. CATLab tries to fill that gap.”
The pipeline between the college and the company has proved remarkably fruitful. Webconnex supports three interns this year, Brevin Tating ’26, Elias Leon ’27 and Ryan Magnuson ’27, welcoming them into their company culture in Sacramento. Last year, they hired CATLab grads Eli Tiao ’25, Brycyn Gossett ’24 and David Ponce de Leon ’25 to full-time positions, joining former Westmont staff members Ryley Oroku ’20 and Owen Marcus ’21.
In addition to professional skills, the program provides a rare space where students can seamlessly blend their faith with technical excellence. “Faith is always part of your work, but it’s much easier to talk about spiritual matters within the supportive Westmont ecosystem,” Kishiyama says.
In the lab, student developers tackle sophisticated cloud migrations and technical integrations. Westmont increasingly uses Webconnex software for institutional event ticketing. To ensure retention of information, a specialized team of student innovators links Webconnex with Salesforce, which the college uses to manage customer data.
The team executes this integration with n8n, a workflow automation tool embedded with artificial intelligence. “AI can bridge the gap and smooth over any differences between the two software programs,” says student engineer Aaron Wu ’27. He notes that the environment offers unprecedented networking opportunities, including access to people in the industry at Westmont’s annual Lead Where You Stand conference.
International student Heritier Kayabo ’28, who returned for his second consecutive year managing form migrations and documentation, says the experience has been transformative.
“It gave me an idea of how the American corporate environment works,” Kayabo says. “It’s an opportunity to identify and improve on what I did last year.”
Elias Leon ’27 navigates his first full-time technology internship by updating older systems to faster, more efficient cloud services. “Learning different tech stacks and using AI tools helps me advance professionally,” he says.
Ryan Magnuson ’27, a third-year veteran of the lab, works with Leon and rewrites legacy code. He credits his liberal arts background for his technical agility. “Westmont academics make you pretty multifaceted,” he said. “When you’re studying all these GEs you’ve got to adapt.”
The upcoming sixth annual Impact Conference will display the culmination of the cohort’s intense summer labor on Friday, July 31, from 7 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. at Westmont’s Global Leadership Center. Keynote speakers include Alison Lee of the Rithm Project and Charles Ryu, founder of Freedom Bridge. Attendees will also hear from student innovators demonstrating the software solutions they built during the summer. For more information, please visit westmont.edu/center-applied-technology/impact-conference.