(MARSHALL, Texas) – Over 100 graduates from Texas State Technical College’s Marshall campus, along with their proud friends and families, attended TSTC’s Summer 2023 Commencement ceremony on Aug. 29 at Marshall’s Memorial City Hall.
Because of the large number of graduating Electrical Lineworker and Management Technology students, the event was divided into two separate ceremonies: one for those students, and another for both Lineworker students and all other graduating TSTC students. The graduates received either their certificates of completion or their Associate of Applied Science degrees.
Provost Barton Day never grows tired of granting TSTC graduates their tickets to their future.
“It’s always exciting to see our graduating students and their supporters mark such a great milestone in their lives,” Day said. “We wish them all of the success that hard work and dedication bring.”
Edgewood, Texas, native Colt Kimbrough walked away that night not only with his associate degree in Electrical Lineworker and Management Technology, but also with the Provost’s Outstanding Achievement Award. He will be heading to Greenville, Texas, for an internship with Farmers Electric Cooperative.
“I went from not knowing anything about linework and not having any connection to be able to get into it, to being able to have an internship and a chance to grow myself,” Kimbrough said.
Originally from Bellevue, Texas, Precision Machining Technology program graduate Andrew Ver Hey gained his certificate of completion, thanks to his employers at Helical Wire who gave him the chance to attend TSTC. The president and vice president of the company attended Ver Hey’s commencement ceremony along with his family. Ver Hey claimed his favorite TSTC memory was “U bolt.”
“It’s an inside joke with one of the students I went to class with,” Ver Hey said with a laugh. “If he reads it, he’ll know it.”
Jewel Beach from Gilmer, Texas, received her associate degree in Digital Media Design to go along with her blossoming reputation as a freelance artist. Since her father is a TSTC enrollment coach on the Marshall campus, her fond memories of TSTC go back to when she was little.
“I got to see my dad working over at the office, and we both got to go outside and watch meteorites coming down,” Beach said. “I was around 6 years old when that happened.”
Marshall native Erica Bridges received her first certificate of completion in Welding Technology. She will be returning to TSTC to work toward the program’s second certificate. She hopes to work in the oil industry once she completes her education.
“It’s made me really excited to go into the oil field and continue to learn what I’ve learned here,” Bridges said.
For more information on TSTC, visit tstc.edu.
