{"id":3190,"date":"2018-07-23T08:00:58","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T08:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=3190"},"modified":"2018-07-20T21:56:27","modified_gmt":"2018-07-20T21:56:27","slug":"maintenance-mechanic-celebrates-three-decades-at-tstc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=3190","title":{"rendered":"Maintenance mechanic celebrates three decades at TSTC"},"content":{"rendered":"

(HARLINGEN) – Joe Ramos is celebrating 30 years at Texas State Technical College and a career that was life-changing in many ways.<\/p>\n

The 52-year-old is now the maintenance mechanic at TSTC in Harlingen, but he started as a part-timer in the custodial department in 1988 when the college was Texas State Technical Institute.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think I\u2019d make it to 30 years. Time flies,\u201d said Ramos. \u201cI had given myself six months max when I first started, but it (TSTC) turned out to be the place where I was meant to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The San Benito native grew up a migrant worker, traveling to Northwest Texas every summer with his family to work in the cotton fields and gins of Memphis, Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t my favorite thing to do during summer vacations, but it\u2019s what put food on our table and a roof over our heads,\u201d said Ramos.<\/p>\n

For Ramos, working in the fields was temporary; it was not something he wanted to do forever.<\/p>\n

However, at 17 he got married, dropped out of high school and fou\"Joe<\/a>nd himself at the gins working maintenance, even during off-seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point the cotton farm was more seasonal than now,\u201d he said. \u201cI was a husband and had responsibilities. It was my turn to support my wife and our future family. I had no choice but to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was then that Ramos realized he would not get far without a proper education, so he and his wife moved back to the Rio Grande Valley. Through a federally funded job training program, Ramos was able to earn his GED diploma and start working at TSTC.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved TSTC, so when a full-time position in the custodial department became available, I jumped at it,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd like they say, the rest is history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through the years, Ramos has grown with the college, even completing his certificate in Welding Technology and becoming a certified welding inspector.<\/p>\n

To this day he continues to learn and is currently enrolled in TSTC\u2019s Continuing Education National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) Electrical Level 1 course.<\/p>\n

\u201cTSTC prides itself on being a great place to work, and for me it truly has been,\u201d said Ramos.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the opportunities I\u2019ve been given, the benefits I receive, to the people I have met and get to work with, I can\u2019t imagine myself anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ramos\u2019 son, Danny, is enrolled at TSTC in the Agricultural Technology program and is currently interning with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.<\/p>\n

\u201cTSTC really has given my entire family opportunities and has changed our lives,\u201d said Joe Ramos.<\/p>\n

TSTC Building Maintenance Supervisor and Interim Physical Plant Director Roberto Chapa has worked with Ramos for 10 years and said he is a great asset to the TSTC family and is proud to have him on his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to congratulate him on his 30 years, and I want him to know we appreciate everything he does,\u201d said Chapa. \u201cHe is dependable, a problem solver and everyone\u2019s helping hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chapa added with a laugh, \u201cI hope he doesn\u2019t retire anytime soon, at least not before me. He saves me a lot of headaches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ramos said he hopes to be at TSTC for another 30 years — as long as he is still able to work and TSTC will have him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a youngster when I started, and I can\u2019t believe I\u2019ve made it this far,\u201d he said. \u201cThank you, TSTC. It\u2019s been a pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(HARLINGEN) – Joe Ramos is celebrating 30 years at Texas State Technical College and a career that was life-changing in many ways. The 52-year-old is now the maintenance mechanic at TSTC in Harlingen, but he started as a part-timer in the custodial department in 1988 when the college was Texas State Technical Institute. \u201cI didn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-harlingen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3190","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\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3190"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3192,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3190\/revisions\/3192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}