(Seguin) — This weekend’s Saturday Topic program, on radio station KWED, features a look at the work that’s being done at the Central Texas Technology Center.
The CTTC, in northern Guadalupe County, is a post-secondary facility that now houses both the Northeast Lakeview College at New Braunfels (NLCNB)campus and the New Braunfels campus of Texas State Technical College (TSTC).
Both schools are serving a growing population of people, who are looking to improve their skill and educational levels.
Mike Anderson, the provost at TSTC New Braunfels and Sharon Nittinger, director of Northeast Lakeview College at New Braunfels, will both join us for a discussion about the work that they are doing in this community.
Anderson says they started with a special program called FAME, but it has since been expanded to include welding and Industrial information systems programs.
“On a daily basis, we are packed full. We actually ended up overbooking. We had a big wait list for our entire campus, not just one program. But we had more welders waitlisted than we actually do in the program. It’s just space and size (issue) at the end of the day, and I think it really shows the demand in this region. I think this region really needed somebody to come in and help with the workforce, particularly with all of the factories and industry that’s moved in here over the last couple of decades. I think that’s really important…and I really believe that we’re going to be able to expand relatively quickly here and be able to service a bunch of different industries and a bunch of different little pockets,” said Anderson.
Nittinger says Northeast Lakeview College has breathed new life into the New Braunfels campus, and she says they are hosting a growing number of courses there at the local campus.
“We have morning, afternoon and evening classes. They run Monday through Thursday. We do not have classes there on Friday or the weekends, as of yet. You will find students that are there for their core classes. As I said, those are your social sciences, English, math, speech, (and) music appreciation — those classes that really help develop critical thinking skills. They really help a student understand the workforce to take those skill sets, those communication skills of how you interact with professionals and adults, and how you manage yourself and maintain yourself in a work environment. So, those kinds of academic courses are there,” said Nittinger.
The Saturday Topic program airs at 8:15 a.m. Saturday morning here on AM 1580 KWED and streaming live online at seguintoday.com. You can also listen live on any Alexa enabled device — all you have to do is say “Alexa, play KWED Radio.”