{"id":1959,"date":"2017-08-22T15:15:28","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T15:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=1959"},"modified":"2017-08-22T19:56:49","modified_gmt":"2017-08-22T19:56:49","slug":"tstc-welding-graduate-continues-to-prove-talents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=1959","title":{"rendered":"TSTC Welding Graduate Continues to Prove Talents"},"content":{"rendered":"

(WACO) \u2013 Kacy Crook is one for proving people wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to do welding in high school,\u201d said Crook, 20, of Tyler and a recent graduate of Texas State Technical College. \u201cMy teacher said I could do it. I welded and cut one thing, and then he put me on the plasma table.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Crook graduated Aug. 18 with an Associate of Applied Science degree in Welding Technology at TSTC in Waco. She walked across the stage at the Waco Convention Center with more than 500 students from the Waco, North Texas and Williamson County campuses.<\/span><\/p>\n

Crook\u2019s parents and aunts attended the ceremony.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe it\u2019s over,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a bittersweet moment. I wanted to shoot for the extra. I didn\u2019t want to do the bare minimum.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She was one of four females graduating with welding degrees this summer. And, the program is expected to have at least two females graduating from the program in December.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis program isn\u2019t for everyone,\u201d said Mark Watson, a TSTC Welding Technology instructor. \u201cThe young ladies that make it through this program are extraordinary with great work ethics.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Crook said her first two weeks at TSTC in fall 2015 had class difficulties that made her cry and question her confidence. But she credited Watson for encouraging her to calm down and listen to music on headphones as she welded.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe faculty have become family,\u201d Crook said. \u201cThey are here for you, welding or not.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Crook\u2019s longtime dance instructor in Smith County, Savannah Holik, also gave her encouraging advice.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe told me to not be afraid of the opportunities and to not give up no matter what,\u201d Crook said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Crook\u2019s career goal is to do pipeline work.<\/span><\/p>\n

Crook worked two jobs and took dance lessons while she was a student at Bullard High School, where she graduated in 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information on Texas State Technical College, go to tstc.edu.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(WACO) \u2013 Kacy Crook is one for proving people wrong. \u201cI wanted to do welding in high school,\u201d said Crook, 20, of Tyler and a recent graduate of Texas State Technical College. \u201cMy teacher said I could do it. I welded and cut one thing, and then he put me on the plasma table.\u201d Crook […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-waco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1959"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1961,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959\/revisions\/1961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}