(MARSHALL) – Marshall High School students will have more opportunities to take technical education classes this fall at Texas State Technical College.
Leaders from TSTC and the Marshall Independent School District announced Wednesday plans to increase technical education classes that high school students can take at the Marshall campus starting in the 2017-18 academic year. The initiative has been named Mav Tech, a combination of the high school’s Mavericks mascot and TSTC’s education focus.
“Mav Tech is long overdue,” said Dr. Jerry Gibson, superintendent of the Marshall Independent School District. “It’s an exciting day that we have this partnership with the college that is closest to our campus. Marshall High School and Marshall ISD should have, with TSTC sitting where it is, one of the largest career technical education programs in the state of Texas. And, this is going to be the first step in us building a bigger program in career and technology.”
At least 25 high school juniors and seniors are expected to take classes in Computer Aided Drafting and Design, Computer Networking and Systems Administration, Cyber Security and Software Development Technology programs this fall, said Michelle Ates, TSTC’s dual enrollment manager in Marshall.
“The students are getting a head start in the technical programs,” Ates said. “The tuition helps because it is affordable to the students.”
Marshall High School students began taking Business Management Technology and Welding Technology classes for dual credit in the 2015-16 academic year at the high school. These program offerings will continue in Mav Tech.
“Exposing students to a broader number of career options available to them gives them a greater ability to make a well-informed decision when matching a career and a higher education pathway,” TSTC in Marshall Provost Barton Day said. “I like to think of today as reaching the starting line rather than the finish line.”
TSTC in Marshall also works with several high schools in Cass, Gregg, Harrison, Marion, Upshur and Wood counties on dual enrollment. This fall, the technical college will work with the Timpson Independent School District on an early college high school initiative.
For more information on the Marshall Independent School District, go to marshallisd.com.
For more information on Texas State Technical College, go to tstc.edu.
