(WACO, Texas) – Leaders from Texas State Technical College, the city of Waco, and McLennan County gathered on Thursday, Sept. 14, to ceremonially break ground for The WorkSITE (Skills, Innovation, Training and Education) workforce training facility.
The $17 million, 25,000-square-foot building will be on Wycon Drive in Waco. The training facility’s purpose is to increase access to customized training and build a skilled workforce in the county. Prosper Waco will help recruit unemployed and underemployed people who can earn quick credentials for quality job placement opportunities. It is the first partnership of its kind between TSTC, the city and the county.
“We are building this for everyone in Central Texas to have a place, a purpose and a path,” said Beth Wooten, provost of TSTC’s Waco campus.
Working together and expressing gratitude were some of the ceremony’s themes.
Mike Reeser, chancellor and CEO of TSTC, said prosperity will ripple out far beyond the building.
“We are the school that matches its skilled talent with industrial jobs,” he said. “If you want to work, TSTC is the place.”
Dillon Meek, mayor of Waco, said the training center will show existing and future businesses that they are supported in their quest to find success.
“I want you to know that this is more than just a building; it is a steppingstone way to the land of opportunity,” he said.
McLennan County Judge Scott Felton said the center will train the workforce of the future.
“We think the center is critically important to bring in companies that we want,” he said.
The building will be an extension of TSTC’s existing Waco campus, with a combination of new and current TSTC faculty teaching at the center. TSTC’s Workforce Training and Continuing Education department will move from its current on-campus location to the new building.
The building is scheduled to open in spring 2025.
For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.
