Two new certificate programs now available
(Guadalupe County) – The opportunity to learn a pair of new career opportunities is currently underway at the Texas State Technical College located in northern Guadalupe County.
Classes began last week in two certificate of completion programs new to the Texas State Technical College’s New Braunfels campus. Those programs include Structural Welding and Industrial Systems Mechanic – Electrical.
Mike Anderson, the campus’ provost, says he’s happy with the additions. He says the growth of the program is due to the newly created Texas State Technical College. The location for years has operated as the Central Texas Technology Center at 2193 FM 758. Anderson says TSTC is one of 11 technical colleges across Texas.
“We started with the FAME Program which was advanced manufacturing and associates degree. We started that in Fall of 2023 and then, we were able to get our own campus designation through the state because it has to be written into legislation for us to operate as a campus. We got written new legislation to operate anywhere in Guadalupe and Comal County and then once that happened,
we were able to add to programs. So, the obvious ones for us were going to be the welding program and the IST which is the Industrial Systems Technician Program within the electrical specialization and a lot of that has to do with just the amount of the employers in the area that could serve those needs and fill those workforce gaps. That was part of the reason for that decision,” said Anderson.
Structural Welding Instructor, Manuel Guerrero, is currently teaching a total of 45 new students divided into two classes.
Guerrero says the first week of classes went very well.
“The students are engaging with myself and their classmates, and they seem to be very excited about the semester ahead,” said Guerrero.
Joel McCracken, one of the instructors for the Industrial Systems Mechanic – Electrical program, says their program is also beginning with 24 students.
“The students will begin hands-on work with materials after only a couple of weeks,” said McCracken. “We don’t waste time.”
Anderson says he’s been looking forward to this for a long time. He says this growth is a result of hard work from the faculty and staff.
“We call ourselves The Get a Job College” because we are really passionate about getting people great paying jobs and literally our mission is to put more Texans in great paying jobs. That is literally what it says to the word, so we get paid by the state based on those outcomes too, so we aren’t getting paid until they get placed in great paying jobs. So for a student to come through here and with the cost of higher education just going crazy right now and what we can do for them and then also get them into a great paying job, they are going to save a lot of money on the frontend, get put into a great paying job and if we don’t put them in a great paying job within six months of graduation in that field of study, then we refund them all their tuition money. That’s our money back guarantee program and so it’s a win, win, win across the board. The employers win. The student wins and the institution, the college wins as well,” said Anderson. “We are going to share in the responsibility of helping you.”
Anderson says they are already working to welcome the newest batch of students. Anyone who is interested in the available programs are asked to visit to tstc.edu.