(ROSENBERG, Texas) – Texas State Technical College continues to grow at its Fort Bend County campus. In addition to the upcoming Transportation Center of Excellence, which will house new automotive programs, the current programs are also seeing an increase in enrollment.
To keep up with the demand, some new instructors and assistants in various programs have recently been hired. One such individual is Charles Mandeville, the new lab assistant in the Electrical Power and Controls program.
“I’m currently also a student in the program,” Mandeville said. “I was attending pretty much every day, even on my off days, and I had proven I could handle the work they needed done.”
Mandeville decided to attend TSTC after needing a change from working in retail. He enrolled in the Electrical Power and Controls program knowing nothing about the field, but he quickly grew to learn that he had a passion for the work.
His job as an assistant has him working on various projects and displays to entice potential students toward the program. Two of these projects, one of which is a miniature racetrack with remote-controlled cars and the other a self-course-correcting robot, he has worked on while learning the ins and outs of the programming.
“Everything in this world relies on electricity, and someone has to understand how to utilize it,” Mandeville said. “A lot of people in the field are close to retiring, so there will be a lot of knowledge lost unless we (the younger generation) start learning now.”
According to onetonline.org, electrical and electronic engineering technologists and technicians in Texas earn a median salary of $64,220 a year. The website projected that there would be a 14% increase in the number of such jobs in the state from 2020 to 2030.
At TSTC, students can pursue an Associate of Applied Science degree in Electrical Power and Controls at the Abilene, Fort Bend County, North Texas and Waco campuses.
The program is one of nine Money-Back Guarantee programs in which tuition is refunded if a participating graduate has not found employment in their field of study within six months after graduation. For more information, visit tstc.edu/mbg.
For more information on the program and about TSTC, go to tstc.edu.
