(WACO) – Omar Francia learned about work responsibility early in his young life.
Francia, 19, began work at 16 at a Corsicana grocery store as a stocker, cashier and clerk. The money helped pay for some of his books and classes at Texas State Technical College in Waco, where he will graduate in May with an associate degree in Cloud and Data Center Management.
“I like the feeling of graduating at 19,” Francia said. “I am young and I have lots to do.”
Andy Kroll, lead instructor in TSTC’s Cloud and Data Center Management program, taught Francia in classes focusing on Amazon Web Services and the open-source operating system Linux.
“He has been able to learn and implement advanced concepts quickly and then turn around and explain it to his fellow students, which shows great understanding and leadership,” Kroll said. “He has consistently been on top of his work, and the work he submits is always top quality. We will be sad to see Omar leave us, but we know he will accomplish great things with the knowledge he has gained at TSTC.”
Some of his most challenging classes were Introduction to Scripting Languages and Administering SQL Server because of the amount of new material he had to learn.
“My instructors are all down-to-earth people you can talk to,” Francia said. “They know what to do and are able to teach really efficiently.”
Francia has gotten experience away from his classes by working up to 20 hours a week in a paid internship in Information Technology and Systems at Baylor University. His work involves setting up desktop computers for laboratories and working with faculty and staff on their technology needs.
Francia grew up in Corsicana and graduated in 2015 from Corsicana High School. He likes playing video games with his friends when he goes home.
“It was nice growing up there,” he said. “I grew up with the same people my entire life. Out of my group of friends, I was the go-to techie kid.”
His brother first told him to consider TSTC when he was in high school. Francia toured the campus and was attracted to the data center on the first floor of the John B. Connally Technology Center that is used by technology students.
“I chose TSTC because it’s straight to the point,” Francia said.
He wants to work in the technology field in the Austin or Dallas areas after graduation.
“Don’t be scared to do what you think you want to do,” he said.
Candidates for graduation from TSTC’s Fort Bend County, North Texas, Waco and Williamson County campuses will gather for Spring Commencement at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, May 1, at the Waco Convention Center at 100 Washington Ave.
For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.
