(MARSHALL, Texas) – Texas State Technical College’s Marshall campus awarded associate degrees or certificates of completion to 68 graduates at the Fall 2024 Commencement on Friday, Dec. 20.
The majority of the graduates who crossed the stage at Marshall’s Memorial City Hall had already secured employment.
Joshua Hicks, a Board of Regents honor graduate in Process Operations from Longview, is heading to Eastman Chemical Co.’s Longview location to start his internship. He said he hopes that the opportunity will turn into a full-time job.
“One of the big parts of Longview is that chemical plant, and I prefer to stay in Longview,” Hicks said. “It’s where my family is.”
Ana Salgado-Perez, of Marshall, enrolled in TSTC’s Cybersecurity program while six months pregnant with her daughter. She graduated as a Board of Regents honor graduate with her certificate of completion, a membership in honor society Phi Theta Kappa and a job at Conterra Networks’ Longview location.
“It was very hard to balance being a student, a wife and a mom, but I made it happen,” Salgado-Perez said.
Marshall native Robert Smith Jr. earned his Associate of Applied Science degree in Industrial Systems to further his career with Prysmian Group, an electric cable manufacturer. He said he found the program’s hands-on lessons beneficial to the nearly identical electrical work that he does for Prysmian.
“Making it to the finish line to graduate and being able to help others with the skills I have learned — that’s been the coolest thing ever,” Smith said. “You can always reach your goal no matter how old you are, because it took me 41 years to figure out what I want to be.”
Several representatives from companies across East Texas were in attendance. Trey Smith, a maintenance shop supervisor for construction equipment supplier HOLT CAT’s Longview location, attended on behalf of the company and said he would recommend TSTC graduates to other employers.
“The breadth of knowledge that students learn while they’re here at TSTC, it’s invaluable,” he said.
Registration for TSTC’s spring semester is underway. For more information, go to tstc.edu.
