(WACO) – James Lilly will have some financial help pursuing his interest in welding this fall at Texas State Technical College in Waco.

Lilly, a senior at C.H. Yoe High School in Cameron, was one of six recipients of the Heart O’’ Texas Fair and Rodeo and Texas State Technical College Scholarship awarded Wednesday night at the organization’s annual banquet in Woodway.

“It is exciting but a little scary going to college,” said Lilly. “I have friends that have been to TSTC to study welding. I applied first then visited the campus. I thought it was awesome.”

Lilly’s mother, Tamika, is a proud mother.

“It feels great,” she said. “The scholarship is a great starter. We are happy he is going to TSTC.”

Forty students at the event were awarded $134,000 in scholarships from the Heart O’ Texas Fair and Rodeo, which is held each fall in Waco.

“It is always an awesome experience in seeing the delight on those kids’ faces,” said Wes Allison, president and chief executive officer of the Heart O’ Texas Fair and Rodeo. “None of them know how much they are receiving when they get to the banquet.”

Reid Terry, a senior at Robinson High School, received a $5,000 HOT Fair and Rodeo and TSTC Scholarship. He played baseball, basketball and football at Robinson and was also active in the agriculture program for one year.

He chose to study Industrial Maintenance starting this fall because of his curiosity.

“I just like knowing a lot of things,” Terry said. “I like knowing how things work.”

Other scholarship recipients attending TSTC this fall are Taylor Allen of Midway High School, Ariel Gallegos of La Vega High School, Joseph Hermann of Belton High School and Brendan Tankersley of University High School in Waco. Allen received a $5,000 scholarship and Gallegos, Hermann, Lilly and Tankersley were given $2,500 scholarships.

“TSTC is thrilled to partner with the Heart O’ Texas Fair and Rodeo to provide scholarships for these deserving students,” TSTC in Waco Provost Adam Hutchison said. “Their high school accomplishments set them apart from other applicants for the scholarships, and their goals in technical education make them a perfect fit for TSTC. I’m grateful for our wonderful community partners and supporters who make scholarships like these possible. It’s a great investment in our region and our students’ futures.”

The guest speaker was Johnny Quinn, a McKinney resident who was on the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics bobsled team for the United States. He is only the third NFL player to have participated in the Winter Olympics.

Quinn talked about his hurdles pursuing sports, from making his mark on the University of North Texas football and track teams to enduring injuries and cuts from the Buffalo Bills and Green Bay Packers and the Canadian Football League’s Saskatchewan Roughriders. He said what got him through this period, along with training and competing in the Winter Olympics, was his mind.

“It all begins with how you think,” Quinn said. “There’s a reward at the end that is so much greater than the struggle through the process.”

The HOT Fair and Rodeo scholarships have been awarded since 1991. More than 650 Central Texas students have benefited from the more than $2.5 million that has been awarded.

For more information on the Heart O’ Texas Fair and Rodeo Scholarship, go to hotfair.com.

For more information on Texas State Technical College, go to tstc.edu.

(WACO) – Leaders from Texas State Technical College, the Texas Workforce Commission and Mars Chocolate North America gathered Tuesday to commemorate a $92,203 Skills Development Fund grant aimed at improving workers’ skills at the candy manufacturer’s Waco factory.

“What Texas State Technical College provides to the community is one of the greatest tools with regard to our economic development,” said Seth Morris, vice president for economic development at the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce.

The grant will create six new jobs and provide technical training to more than 90 workers to better their skills for using fasteners, lubricants, components, valves and hand tools. The first training led by TSTC faculty members was in late April. The grant’s regional impact is expected to be more than $765,000, according to the state workforce commission.

TSTC in Waco Provost Adam Hutchison said the grant symbolized some of the best collaboration that can be done in the city to further develop the workforce.

Gary Mueller, training manager for Mars Chocolate in Waco, said staff were appreciative of the opportunity to grow the company in manpower and knowledge.

The grant builds on the progress that Waco and the state have made in economic development.

TWC Commissioner Representing Employers Ruth R. Hughs said Waco currently has a 4.3 percent unemployment rate, while the state unemployment rate is 5 percent. Waco’s unemployment rate is on par with the Abilene, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and San Antonio-New Braunfels metropolitan areas and is less than unemployment in the Beaumont-Port Arthur, Brownsville-Harlingen, Corpus Christi and McAllen-Mission-Edinburg metropolitan areas.

Hughs said CEO Magazine has named Texas the best state to do business in for the 13th consecutive year.

“The Skills Development Fund is the premier job training program with custom training and promoting employees in getting marketable skills,” Hughs said.

Mars Chocolate North America on Texas Central Parkway in Waco has more than 550 employees making the popular candies Skittles, Starburst and variations of Snickers.

For more information on Texas State Technical College, go to tstc.edu.

(WACO) – Texas State Technical College’s Automotive Technology program recently received several donations from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles – North America.

The donations include 2014 models of the Chrysler 200 S, Jeep Cherokee Latitude and Dodge Ram 3500 Turbo Diesel truck as well as eight engines.

The vehicles and engines will be used by TSTC students in the nationwide Mopar Career Automotive Program (MCAP). The program is a blended internship and technical education program training college students to be factory-certified to work at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles dealerships nationwide. TSTC’s MCAP program  has 14 students, with another 20 students beginning classes this fall.

The vehicles, which have high-end features such as electric windows and state-of-the-art control panels, are valued at more than $90,000. Students will also learn about the vehicle’s software and new emission systems — the kinds of things the students will eventually encounter as technicians in dealerships.

“Most of these vehicles are write-offs for the manufacturer,” said George Williams, a TSTC Automotive Technology instructor. “It gives our students access to the newest technology.”

The four 1.4 L MultiAir engines are valued at $1,500 each, the three 3.6 L Pentastar engines are valued at $2,000 each and the Cummins 6.7 L diesel engine is valued at $10,000.

“We can show demonstrations on the diesel engine,” said Matthew Mills, a TSTC Automotive Technology instructor. “It gives the students an opportunity to do more hands-on work better than sitting in a classroom.”

Some of the engines will stay in plastic and on pallets until they are rotated in for use in classes. Students are expected to begin using the engines in midsummer.

“The engines can be taken apart and put together just a few times,” Williams said. “The old engines are recycled and get crushed, and we receive new ones.”

TSTC offers an Associate of Applied Science degree in Automotive Technology – Chrysler Specialization.

For more information on Texas State Technical College, go to tstc.edu.

(WACO) – Camp Neff is proving to be good with his hands.

Neff, 22, of Franklin, Texas, is a Robotics Technology major at Texas State Technical College. He is also a dual threat playing banjo and table tennis — but not at the same time.

When Neff is not studying direct and alternating currents or the basics of robotics, he is playing banjo with the Fence Post Pickers featuring Charles and John Kirk as accompanying vocalists. The band performs throughout the Brazos Valley.

“We stick to tried, true and classic bluegrass and country,” Neff said, citing the late banjo picker Earl Scruggs as one of his favorite musicians.

Neff received the Gibson Top Tension banjo he currently plays as a birthday gift when he was 16.

“Instruments sound better the older they are,” he said. “The banjo has broken me out of any rut I was in before. I play the banjo and keep people happy.”

Neff was home-schooled and participated in high school robotics competitions.

“You have to do all the work yourself,” he said. “You have to have study time. You can’t do home schooling if you aren’t self-motivated.”

This discipline has helped him in his robotics classes, said Brandon McMahan, a TSTC graduate and Robotics Technology instructor.

“He is a great student,” McMahan said. “He is a leader in the classroom.”

The Robotics Technology program is based in the Robotics and Automation Lab in TSTC’s  Electronics Center. McMahan said class sizes average 10 students who are divided up to work with robots.

“You can go straight into the job market,” McMahan said. “We teach students to be entry-level technicians.”

Neff is scheduled to graduate from TSTC in spring 2018.

“I’d like to travel and go from a distribution center to a factory to fix what does not work,” he said. “I want to see what is out there.”

Neff grew up on a ranch in Robertson County.

“I would stare for a half-hour at sugar ants to see what they were doing,” he said. “Nature is vast and complicated, and I experienced it growing up.”

Neff discovered the banjo when he was 12 while at a concert with his family.

“It sounded so different from the other instruments that I knew it was the one,” he said. “If I’m happy or sad, I can play and emote.”

Colee Littlefield, co-owner of Magnolia-based Texas Bluegrass Music LLC, said she admired Neff’s talent.

“It’s great that he started young,” said Littlefield. “It’s easy to train your fingers when they are nice, nimble and young. You are not concentrating as hard as you get older.”

Littlefield’s company organizes yearly bluegrass festivals in Bellville and Grapeland.

“The banjo player is pretty necessary for bluegrass,” she said. “Not every bluegrass band has a fiddle or a Dobro, but they usually have a banjo, mandolin, guitar and stand-up bass. Those are the four basic instruments.”

Neff also found his way to table tennis when he was 12. He primarily plays the game at TSTC’s Murray Watson Jr. Student Services Center. He recently won the table tennis competition at Techsan Day.

“A friend and I would play casually with a tennis ball when I was growing up,” he said. “I loved it and could be competitive with training. It is something to pass the time to keep from getting bored.”

For more information on Texas State Technical College, go to tstc.edu.