Texas Border Business
HARLINGEN, Texas – Texas State Technical College recently welcomed more than two dozen high school counselors and career and technical education (CTE) teachers to experience the college’s technologies and hands-on labs during its second annual TECHcelerate, a weeklong technical education conference with two different sessions at TSTC’s Harlingen location.
Rebeca Villanueva-Hernandez, TSTC’s enrollment lead in Harlingen, said TECHcelerate gave attendees a glimpse into technical education at the college level.
“Their experience will allow them to not only educate their students about what TSTC offers, but also discuss what they learned with parents and fellow colleagues,” she said. “In the Rio Grande Valley we have a great opportunity to reintroduce technical training, and this event is a perfect setting.”
Henry Cantu, a building trades teacher at the Edinburg CISD CTE Career Center, said he was impressed by the college’s programs.
“The hands-on projects that we did were great,” he said. “The instructors and staff were very knowledgeable.”
Delicia Sanchez, a college and career advisor at Harlingen High School, said it is important for students to be productive members of society.
“Everybody has a role to play, and TSTC accounts for many of those roles,” she said. “Since many people are retiring in the workforce, those positions need to be filled. That would be our students filling those jobs.”
Belinda Sosa, a cosmetology teacher at Harlingen High School and Harlingen High School South, stepped outside of her comfort zone.
“I enjoyed changing the oil on a vehicle in the Automotive Technology program,” she said.
At the conclusion of each session, a graduation ceremony was held for the participants.
Registration for TSTC’s fall semester is underway. For more information, visit tstc.edu.
