(WACO) – Two Texas State Technical College in Waco police officers were honored Tuesday night by the Lacy Lakeview City Council for their work in helping to de-escalate a situation last summer.

TSTC’s Sgt. Roman Proctor and Patrolman Marcus Woods were recognized with lifesaving pins to wear on their uniforms for helping to keep a woman from jumping off the Meyers Lane overpass bridge on Interstate 35 in August.

The incident area is long familiar to the TSTC officers – they grew up in Waco, with Proctor graduating in 2001 from A.J. Moore Academy and Woods graduating in 2010 from Connally High School. Both are criminal justice graduates of McLennan Community College.

“I am proud to serve with Sergeant Proctor and Officer Woods,” TSTC Police Chief Brian Davis said. “Their courageous and lifesaving actions were certainly worthy of recognition. This exemplifies the service they provide to our community on a daily basis.”

Lacy Lakeview Police Chief John Truehitt said Proctor and Woods responded first to the situation early on a rainy morning in August.

Proctor said the officers had to assess the situation quickly.

“She was sitting on the side of the bridge and had some blood coming from her arm,” Woods said.

The woman, whose relatives quickly arrived at the scene, became distracted and began to crawl over the railing. That is when Officer Casey Lander of the Lacy Lakeview Police Department helped Proctor and Woods pull the woman to safety. An ambulance was on standby near the scene to transport the woman to a local hospital.

“The truth of the matter is, it’s what we are in the business for,” Truehitt said. “We take ‘protect and serve’ very seriously.”

Lander, who worked for TSTC from 2010 to 2014, was also recognized with a lifesaving pin.

“It’s an honor to go out and do the job every day,” Lander said.

The TSTC and Lacy Lakeview police departments typically back up each other on service calls and 911 dispatches. Truehitt said Lacy Lakeview’s policy is to have two officers respond to particular scenes, like those of domestic violence, which can deplete manpower as other incidents happen in the city of more than 6,500.

For more information on the city of Lacy Lakeview, go to lacylakeview.org.

For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.

(WACO) – People walking into the hangar at the end of the Col. James T. Connally Aerospace Center at Texas State Technical College in Waco can see learning in progress.

Small turboprop planes and a helicopter are positioned where wings and propellers do not touch. A person can see the exposed engines and dashboards as they duck under wings while walking through the hangar.

The hangar is used by students in the technical college’s Aviation Maintenance department and is a place attracting students from throughout Texas to learn the inner workings of airplanes and helicopters, all within Federal Aviation Administration guidelines.

“I take good notes in class,” said Ryan Borg, 21, of San Antonio and a 2014 graduate of Steele High School. “I absorb this stuff easily. I enjoy being able to wake up and fix these aircraft.”

The department has grown from 80 students in the 2015-16 academic year to about 100 students for the 2016-17 academic year. Robert Capps, the department’s lead instructor, said faculty members anticipate the department growing to 120 students next year.

“We want students who are good at technical reading and writing, have a grasp of high school algebra and, above all, a curiosity and a love of learning,” Capps said.

Borg is working on the department’s associate degrees in Aircraft Airframe Technology and Aircraft Powerplant Technology. He is also a student worker in the department.

Borg said he was good at mathematics and using tools growing up building homes with his grandfather. A high school teacher, along with Borg’s father, encouraged him to take a look at TSTC.

“My father was a pilot, and he suggested we go look at the TSTC Airport. So we took a tour of the facility,” Borg said. “I thought it would be fun to ‘wrench’ on those airplanes.”

Some of the department’s students came to TSTC by way of having degrees in other fields.

Chris Smith, 31, a native of Missouri City and a 2003 graduate of Hightower High School in Missouri City, studied sports management at Metropolitan State University of Denver and worked for the Atlantic League’s Sugar Land Skeeters.

But he discovered working with sports was not what he wanted to do the rest of his career. He wants one to day repair F/A-18 Hornets in the Denver or Dallas-Fort Worth areas.

“My affinity for aviation started kicking in,” Smith said. “I wanted to work on airplanes. I wanted to learn how they worked and get a job and pay to further my education.”

Brian Davis, 36, grew up in Austin and graduated in 1998 from Stephen F. Austin High School. The Temple resident received a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida and a master’s degree in Engineering Management from the Florida Institute of Technology.

Despite challenges finding jobs in the engineering field and working in cable company customer support and quality engineering, Davis still kept the aerospace field in mind. He found TSTC through an online search and is working on the associate degree in Aircraft Airframe Technology.

“I was able to test out of the mathematics and physics classes,” Davis said. “A lot of the physics deals with aerodynamics. This program opens much more doors.”

Capps said the department’s students are sought after.

Our college’s reputation in the industry is such that employers come to us frequently to hire our graduates,” he said. “Textron Aviation (based in Wichita, Kansas) came last semester and interviewed six people, offered jobs to four of them, and two accepted.”

At least 121,000 aircraft mechanics and service technicians are expected to be needed through 2024, according to projectionscentral.com, a clearinghouse of short-term and long-term state labor market predictions.

“We are very excited about the growth of the aerospace industry,” Capps said. “Flight hours are expected to double in the next 15 years. We are also excited about the space side of the aerospace industry. Commercial space flights are on the cusp of beginning. Our students are well-positioned to begin a career that will continue as future supervisors and management in the commercial space industry.”

The Aviation Maintenance department also offers certificates in Aircraft Airframe Technology and Aircraft Powerplant Technology.

For more information, go to tstc.edu.

(WACO) – The companies lining Karl May Drive in Waco could be considered Aviation Row. Drivers on their way to Waco Regional Airport pass an array of aerospace businesses specializing in flight training, propeller and engine parts and charter flights.

Blackhawk Modifications Inc., which is in sight of the airport’s control tower, is a global company headquartered in Waco that designs and sells engines to modify corporate-sized turboprop aircraft as approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Some of the 38 Blackhawk employees are graduates of Texas State Technical College in Waco.

“There is a major shortage in aviation-trained personnel coming on the immediate horizon, and TSTC is doing a lot to help bridge that gap,” said Jim Allmon, Blackhawk’s president and chief executive officer. “Boeing predicts that by 2020 there will be a deficit of 20,000 pilots and 30,000 mechanics in the aviation industry. Therefore, it is crucial that TSTC continues to produce graduates who are highly trained in the aviation field. Central Texas is growing tremendously, and we are going to need the talent that TSTC graduates provide.”

Some of the work the company is taking on now includes an engine upgrade for the King Air 350 and providing work for special missions for militaries throughout the world with lightweight interiors to reduce aircraft weight, fuel lockers and engine upgrades for selected aircraft.

Donna Crisman, 52, of Waco has been at Blackhawk for nine years and is the FAA certification and documentation manager. She compiles project revisions using FAA specifications.

Crisman graduated from TSTC in 1995 with an Associate of Applied Science degree in Computer Networking and Systems Administration. She credits the technical college with teaching her the foundation to function comfortably with computers and the Microsoft system she uses at the company.

“I was a newly single mother when I looked at TSTC,” Crisman said. “TSTC had much more resources – child care, the women’s resource center and good housing.”

Michael Moore, 59, of Waco has been at Blackhawk for 11 years and is an engineering and customer service manager. He grew up in Marlin and has a tie to the land TSTC is on – his mother met his stepfather there when the property was Connally Air Force Base.

Moore was a jet engine technician when he was in the U.S. Air Force, which developed his troubleshooting skills. He went on to graduate in 1984 from TSTC with an associate degree in Aircraft Airframe Technology.

“The program was really good and gave me a good basis for my whole career,” Moore said.

He said he liked Blackhawk’s small and efficient size.

“I would not fit in with a large company,” Moore said. “Everyone knows everybody and we all get along.”

Garrett Stephan, 35, of Waco is an engineering project manager who has worked at Blackhawk for five years. He said flexibility was key to seeing work orders filled. He graduated in 2001 with an Aircraft Airframe Technology certificate.

“We have so many different products we are always working on. If we are not developing new products, we are updating legacy products,” Stephan said. “We study product improvement and customer issues.”

Brendan Krenek, 55, is an electrical and avionics specialist at Blackhawk who earned TSTC associate degrees in Laser Electro-Optics Technology in 1982, Aircraft Airframe Technology in 2005 and Avionics Technology in 2007. He said his studies with lasers helped him as he worked on his avionics technology degree.

“TSTC is more of a direct path to a job,” said Krenek, a Fayetteville native and Waco resident. “You don’t have to spend four years getting a bachelor’s degree to graduate with a marketable skill.”

Blackhawk was founded in 1999 and has performed more than 700 engine updates.

“A lot of new modifications and new products come out of Waco, and you don’t see that as much in other areas,” Allmon said. “The Waco aviation industry is greatly supported by the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce and city leaders.”

Blackhawk has partnered with TSTC in the past. The company has provided scholarships to TSTC students through the Freedom Ball which Allmon and his wife, Lynnette Allmon, Blackhawk’s vice president, started hosting in 2011.

“The cost of living in Waco is low, which is a great advantage to a small company like Blackhawk,” Jim Allmon said.

For more information on Blackhawk Modifications Inc., go to Blackhawk.aero.

For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.

(WACO) – The Auto Collision and Management Technology program at Texas State Technical College in Waco celebrated Friday its selection as a 2015 Ultimate Collision Education Makeover school.

The program received a $50,000 Dallas Makeover Grant, which is part of the initiative and awarded by the Collision Repair Education Foundation.

“We saw the instructors’ commitment to the students,” said Stacy Bartnik, chairman of the Collision Repair Education Foundation. “They want to make sure the students were entry-level ready and have a passion for the industry.”

Faculty members bought paint guns, sockets, red storage carts, paintless dent repair tools, bumper stands, an induction heater and other items.

“Obviously we have the right stuff to train a student to be a technician going into the auto repair field,” said Kevon Kleibrink, a program instructor. “Without the support of industry partners saying good things about our students and actually hiring our students, we would not exist.”

Students have begun working with four welding machines purchased through the grant that can do four different types of welding: TIG, MIG, stick and aluminum.

Geoffrey Whitlock, 25, an Auto Collision and Management Technology Refinishing Specialization major from Waco, said having the new machines will broaden his and other students’ range of knowledge.

“It’s helped out a lot,” the La Vega High School graduate said. “Before, we had just one aluminum welder. Now, we have several welding machines, including the old one. Learning with these will help when we get out in the industry. We will be better prepared for that.”

David Noyola, 20, of Killeen is working toward an Associate of Applied Science degree in Auto Collision and Management Technology Repair Specialization. He said it took a few days to learn how the welding machines function.

“I’ve always been into cars, more of the body side, making it look good and fixing it back to its normal shape,” said Noyola, a 2014 Shoemaker High School graduate.

For more information about the Auto Collision and Management Technology program, log on to tstc.edu.

(WACO) – Russa Bolton has 285 reasons to be happy about her career future.

Bolton, 43, a Computer Networking and Systems Administration major at Texas State Technical College in Waco, recently received a $285 grant to take a network certification test next year.

“I am having to establish a standard now – how many females will come after me?” Bolton said. “The standard is pretty high now.”

The nonprofit Our Digital Heroes Foundation in Austin was created last year to highlight the need for veterans to pursue certifications in technical areas. The organization’s primary projects include matching disabled veterans to technical security work using and robots, besides administering continuing education grants.

“We figured a place to start would be to help people with technology exams,” said Robert Wagner, chairman of the board for Our Digital Heroes. “Russa was our first grantee.”

TSTC Veterans Program Administrator Rachel Mims said she heard about the program from a TSTC recruiter at another campus. She called the organization and learned more about the grant program.

“Russa is a great student and we are happy to have her,” Mims said. “She is always so cheerful and positive. I’m very glad we were able to connect her with Our Digital Heroes to help her with testing fees connected to her future career.”

Bolton wants to pursue a career in telecommunications after graduation.

“I’ve always been tech savvy,” she said. “I want to enhance my talent and get skills that work anywhere in the world.”

Bolton is originally from Swakopmund, Namibia, in southwest Africa.

“When you grow up in a desert, you have a freedom of space,” she said. “We aren’t that populated.”

She has a legal studies degree earned in South Africa and a criminal justice graduate degree from American Military University in West Virginia. Bolton has also lived in Germany and Great Britain.

Bolton came to the United States at 33 and served for six years in the U.S. Army as a combat medic. She was posted at Fort Hood, among other military installations, and served a tour of duty in Iraq.

Bolton said she liked how TSTC was supportive to non-traditional students like herself.

“I don’t think one institution can have so many special people,” she said.

For more information on TSTC Veteran Services and the Computer Networking and Systems Administration program, log on to tstc.edu.

(WACO) – Texas State Technical College in Waco’s Welding Technology program recently received a Kuka welding robot valued at $150,000.

The gift was made by ARC Specialties in northwest Houston, a company that designs and builds automated machinery for welding, pipeline manufacturing and the oil and gas industries.

“It’s important that the students get access to the newer technology,” said Jim Walker, a welding technologist and certified welding inspector at ARC Specialties. “It doesn’t do any good if they don’t ever touch the equipment and have to learn about it once in the industry.”

Mark Watson, a TSTC Welding Technology instructor, said the robot will give students a way to learn technology they may encounter in the industry. He said a robot like the one from the company can be used in the automotive industry on assembly lines.

“I want them to be able to operate it,” Watson said. “You also have to learn how to program and repair it.”

Robots typically perform about 10 percent of tasks across the manufacturing spectrum, but this is expected to increase to 25 percent worldwide by 2025, according to the Boston Consulting Group, a private global management consulting firm specializing in business strategy.

“It’s taking over the skill level of your welders,” Watson said. “Nowadays, it’s hard to find the skilled welders. Students need to be on the global playing field with technology.”

Watson’s welding students are excited to start learning about the machine.

Rhett Fuller, 20, of Cedar Park and a 2014 graduate of Cedar Park High School, said the robot combined his interests in welding and computers. He said the donation made him glad he chose TSTC to study welding.

“A lot of the things Mark is doing is for the students,” Fuller said. “He wants to teach a new generation of welders.”

Taylor Otte, 20, of Lexington and a 2014 graduate of Lexington High School, is studying for an advanced pipe welding certificate. He said he enjoys learning how robotics and his knack for mathematics fit into the welding field.

“My aunt is the high school principal in Lexington and she told me about a tour of TSTC when I was a student,” Otte said. “I learned about other programs and took an instrumentation class here. It made me want to be in the field doing work. I want to do underwater welding.”

Walker, along with Dan Allford, the company’s owner, and Randy Ellington, project manager and process specialist, all have associate degrees in welding technology from TSTC in Waco.

“We all enjoyed going through the program at TSTC,” Walker said. “We are still involved in welding and deal with welding on a daily basis. It’s been something all three of us have loved to do.”

ARC Specialties is also represented in the Welding Technology program’s Advisory Board.

Watson envisions securing more technology through partnerships with other companies in the future so students can be more competitive for jobs.

“Good things are going to come to us in the future,” Watson said.

For more information on the Welding Technology program, log on to tstc.edu.

(WACO) – An Oklahoma City-based company has found a hiring pipeline for Diesel Equipment Technology majors at Texas State Technical College in Waco.

Kirby-Smith Machinery Inc. has hired 10 graduates so far this year. The alumni are all full-time service technicians at the company, specializing in sales, repairs and rentals of bulldozers, dump trucks, excavators, boom trucks, loaders and other heavy machinery.

The company has about 400 employees at its locations in Abilene, Amarillo, Dallas, Fort Worth, Lubbock and Odessa, as well as Oklahoma City, Tulsa, St. Louis and Kansas City, Kansas.

Ben Sitton, a technical trainer for Kirby-Smith, said TSTC in Waco’s location is strategic for filling its needs at its Texas branches. Most of the graduates work in Dallas.

“Everything is going computer-based and it is hard to find people who want to get dirty and build things,” said Sitton. “We have a lot of guys retiring in the future, so we will constantly add trainees. We want to give them some of the knowledge of the more experienced workers before they retire.”

TSTC’s graduate hires are in a two-year, on-the-job training program implemented earlier this year by Kirby-Smith that places them with experienced technicians to learn the working culture.

Victor Membreno, 20, of Brenham and an August 2016 graduate of TSTC, learned about Kirby-Smith through friends.

“You have people who have done this for 25 years,” Membreno said. “They see you as the next generation. They want to give you their knowledge.”

Some of the skills the graduates are learning include fire, water and air analysis; hydrology and failure analysis. The end result will be experienced workers certified as Komatsu technicians with a knowledge of how Kirby-Smith handles its service to customers.

“We can mold them into what we want,” Sitton said.

The company teaches safety around the machinery. Ty McCarver, 21, of White Settlement and a spring TSTC graduate, said the family-like atmosphere is also emphasized. His career goal is to get repair experience and later move into management.

“I told them when I was interviewing that I was willing to work,” McCarver said. “I did work on my grandfather’s older cars growing up.”

Rick Adam, 35, of Granbury and a spring TSTC graduate, said his job at Kirby-Smith is the best he has ever had.

Adam said the key to being successful at the company, and any job, is to listen.

“If you are willing to work and have an open mind and be willing to learn, those are the best things,” he said. “We want co-workers who are willing to take a step back and think.”

The alumni are grateful for what they learned in TSTC’s Diesel Equipment Technology program.

“At DET, they taught us the basics,” said Rodrigo Gutierrez, 21, of Ennis and a spring 2016 TSTC graduate. “Knowing your basics is important. We can grow from there.”

Gutierrez said working with engines came naturally to him because he did repairs on his father’s two tractor-trailers while growing up.

“I went to school for this, so I knew what I was getting into,” Gutierrez said as he stood beside an excavator in the searing heat on a recent afternoon.

Ciro Suaste, 21, of Italy, Texas said TSTC’s Career Services staff were helpful in him finding a job. The summer graduate said he enjoys the flow of work and the tools, particularly the sockets, he uses daily.

Sitton said the company anticipates hiring more TSTC graduates later this year.

“We like to find students with good grades who are willing to learn and have a good knowledge of hand tools and the basics going through school,” Sitton said.