(MARSHALL, Texas) – Avry Conley and Carter Scraver, two Diesel Equipment Technology students at Texas State Technical College’s Marshall campus, both started working on cars as children with their families.
Now they balance their time between classes at TSTC and jobs at Mavis Tires and Brakes in Marshall.
Conley, of Hallsville, was motivated to attend TSTC after two of his siblings graduated from the Marshall campus last year.
“They both absolutely loved it,” he said. “I’ve heard nothing but great things about the school, and it had the only diesel technician program around.”
Scraver, of Liberty City, wanted to find a college that offered a program similar to his area of expertise.
“I always liked working on stuff like cars with my grandpa,” he said. “I wanted to go into something bigger and a more reliable field because it’s always going to be there.”
Both Conley and Scraver agreed that TSTC’s Diesel Equipment Technology program is challenging yet informative, and they enjoy expanding on their prior knowledge.
A friend of Conley’s who works at Mavis Tires and Brakes helped him secure a position as assistant lead technician at the company’s Marshall location. In turn, Conley recommended the shop to Scraver, who now works there as a tire technician.
“It’s helped with diagnosing a few things because a lot of diesel stuff transfers over to cars,” Scraver said about what he is learning at TSTC.
Cheyenne Adams is a service manager at Mavis.
“I think both of them are great workers, and I’m glad to have both of them here,” Adams said of Conley and Scraver. “Avry is well above average in his work ethic; he is going to go far. Carter is really smart in his mechanical knowledge, and he knows a lot of stuff that other people don’t.”
Conley and Scraver both plan to graduate from TSTC this December. Conley is working toward a certificate of completion, and Scraver is studying for his Associate of Applied Science degree.
“Being able to learn such a useful skill that can translate to multiple different fields in the mechanic world, it means a lot that I have the ability to do that,” Conley said.
Diesel Equipment Technology is available at TSTC’s Abilene, Fort Bend County, Harlingen, Marshall, North Texas, Sweetwater and Waco campuses. The program offers several associate degrees and certificates of completion, depending on location.
For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.
