(MARSHALL, Texas) – Tarren Harvey enrolled in the Drafting and Design program at Texas State Technical College’s Marshall campus when his career in hospitality left him dissatisfied.
“I decided to go back to my first love, which is architecture,” he said.
In 2024 Harvey competed in Architectural Drafting at the SkillsUSA Postsecondary Leadership and Skills Conference in Houston, where he took first place. In the same category later that year at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, he came in seventh.
Harvey will head to Corpus Christi in April to reenter the state-level competition. He has high hopes for himself and the two other TSTC Drafting and Design students from the Marshall campus who will also be competing in Architectural Drafting.
“Hopefully all three of us can be up on that stage together,” Harvey said. “I would love to get first, but as long as all three of us are up there, I think we’ll be able to represent TSTC.”
Harvey commutes from Monroe, Louisiana, to Marshall to attend TSTC, a journey that he described as challenging but worthwhile. When not in class, he works as an intern for Concept Engineering, a consulting company in Ruston, Louisiana.
“Tarren has a great attention to detail; he makes sure all of the little things are correct,” Ethan Welch, a design manager at Concept Engineering, said. “He fits in really well with others, he’s easy to like, easy to be around and a good co-worker.”
Harvey plans to receive his Associate of Applied Science degree in Architectural/Civil Drafting Technology in summer 2025. He hopes to continue working for Concept Engineering and is considering enrolling later in TSTC’s Building Construction Technology program, which will be available at the Marshall campus next fall.
“TSTC means a better life and better opportunities,” Harvey said.
According to onetonline.org, architectural and civil drafters earn an average of $58,540 per year in Texas, where the number of such jobs was projected to increase 15% from 2020 to 2030.
Drafting and Design is available at TSTC’s Harlingen, Marshall, North Texas and Waco campuses, as well as online. The program offers several associate degrees and certificates of completion.
For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.
