(MARSHALL, Texas) – Texas State Technical College welcomed roughly 500 high school students and visitors to the Marshall campus on Thursday, Nov. 2, for Discovery Day — its biannual open house. Every visitor was allowed an extensive self-guided tour of the campus and given program overviews from the campus’s instructors.
In the three years since she began working for New Summerfield ISD in New Summerfield, Texas, district counselor DeAnna Molloy has been bringing students to visit TSTC’s Marshall campus for every open house.
“I feel like it’s important to give the kids a broad view of what’s available after they graduate,” Molloy said. “I think (TSTC) is a great school. I like the programs that they offer. I really encourage the kids that don’t know what they want to do to look at this place.”
Many students from Chapel Hill ISD in Mount Pleasant, Texas, have gone on to attend TSTC’s Waco campus. For the second year in a row, academic advisor John Kaiser brought several juniors and seniors to the Marshall campus to discover its programs and possibilities.
“Some of these kids are not four-year college students,” Kaiser said. “(TSTC) has the opportunity for these kids to make an immediate impact on their lives.”
Father-and-daughter duo Ivy and John Rasco from Tyler, Texas, were encouraged by Ivy’s high school counselor to visit TSTC as Ivy has been in her high school’s welding program for two years. She hopes to join the Marshall campus’s Precision Machining Technology program or Welding Technology program after she graduates in 2025.
“I’m very hands-on with everything,” Ivy said. “I used to take apart my PlayStation, look at parts in there and then put it back together.”
High school student Mireya Martinez attends West Rusk High School in New London, Texas. While she became interested in working in the process operations field after Eastman Chemical visited her school, her interest increased after touring TSTC Thursday.
“The more (the instructors) said about (the Process Operations program) made me feel more confident about my options,” she said.
The Marshall campus received a total of eight applications from potential students during the event.
To schedule a tour with TSTC, go to tstc.edu/visit-campus-form.
Registration for the spring semester is underway. For more information, visit tstc.edu.
