(MARSHALL) – A Longview company has made a sizeable contribution to help students reach their education goals in East Texas.
Eastman Chemical Co. has bestowed at least $30,000 this year toward Texas State Technical College’s Make a Texas-Sized Difference campaign developed by The TSTC Foundation to raise money for the Texan Success Scholarship.
“Among TSTC’s greatest strengths are the relationships we maintain with industry partners like our great friends at Eastman,” TSTC in Marshall Provost Barton Day said. “Their technical guidance, equipment contribution and student sponsorship help us keep training on the cutting edge and place more Texans in great-paying careers.”
The company was founded in 1920 in Kingsport, Tenn., and has more than 15,000 employees at locations in the United States, Mexico, China, Brazil, Singapore, Japan and South Korea, along with several facilities in Europe. The chemical company works with clients in the transportation, construction, agriculture and chemicals-processing industries.
“Eastman Chemical Co. Texas Operations values our partnership of many years with TSTC,” said Mike Tucker, an Eastman learning services technologist in Longview. “The Marshall campus offers programs that produce students with the skills needed for our operations jobs.”
The company’s areas of interest for prospective workers are process technology, industrial maintenance and instrumentation.
“Too many students use the wrong criteria when making their college choice on where and what to study,” TSTC Chancellor Michael Reeser said. “The No. 1 question for everyone should be: How good is the job I can get with the degree I plan to pursue? The assumption that all four-year degrees earn more than all two-year degrees is wrong. In fact, most two-year STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) degrees out-earn the average four-year degree.”
New, incoming students at TSTC’s 10 campuses can receive the non-need, referral-based $1,000 scholarships. TSTC recruiters, faculty members and high school counselors can make recommendations for students to receive the money to pay for two semesters. Each dollar contributed by donors will be matched by the college.
“The goal is to grow TSTC, get our students in school and on track to complete a program and eventually enter the Texas workforce,” Vice President of Institutional Advancement Beth Wooten has said. “This is bigger than just TSTC. This is about filling the skills gap in Texas and providing industry with the skilled workers desperately needed.”
The Make a Texas-Sized Difference campaign continues. For more information on the campaign and other ways to contribute to TSTC, log on to tstc.edu/tstcfoundation or call 903-923-3209.
TSTC in Marshall will host a Registration Rally from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6.