{"id":3353,"date":"2018-08-20T13:38:33","date_gmt":"2018-08-20T13:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=3353"},"modified":"2018-08-27T13:39:23","modified_gmt":"2018-08-27T13:39:23","slug":"tstc-graduates-37-at-first-commencement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=3353","title":{"rendered":"TSTC Graduates 37 at First Commencement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/gerdau.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-3355\" src=\"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/gerdau-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/gerdau-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/gerdau-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/gerdau-624x416.jpg 624w, https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/gerdau.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>(RED OAK) &#8211; Texas State Technical College in North Texas celebrated its first Commencement on Monday, August. 20 as graduates walked the stage in the presence of their family and friends.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a special occasion,\u201d TSTC Provost Marcus Balch told those gathered at the Waxahachie Convention Center. \u201cNot only are we celebrating our graduates and their accomplishments, but this is the first graduating class to celebrate in a Commencement ceremony held right here at home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>TSTC Chancellor Mike Reeser was the keynote speaker at the ceremony. He urged the students to keep learning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou chose a technical field,\u201d Reeser said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve noticed, but technology keeps moving on. It gets better and bigger, faster and stronger every day. You have to accept that this college event is not the end of your constant evolution, but the beginning. You\u2019ve got to know that you have two choices: keep up with the constant changes or be obsolete.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Diesel Equipment Technology graduate John O\u2019Connell was selected for the Provost Award, a recognition given to a student who has demonstrated high academic performance, exceptional character and student leadership, and who has influenced their peers to strive for excellence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith everything I\u2019ve been through, it was definitely a great honor,\u201d O\u2019Connell said. \u201cI did not expect it or see it coming. I\u2019m deeply honored that the school chose me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Among its summer graduates, nine Gerdau employees earned their associate degrees in Industrial Maintenance. The graduates attended classes while working full time.<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy Crowder, an electrician with the company, graduated with a 4.0 GPA. He believes that the company investing in educating employees saves on-the-job training time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we\u2019re getting guys in at a higher education level and with a better skill set when they start,\u201d said Crowder. \u201cNow, we don\u2019t have to train for that skill set at the job.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>TSTC in North Texas graduates earned degrees in eight of the programs offered at the campus \u2014 Computer-Aided Drafting &amp; Design Technology, Computer Networking &amp; Systems Administration, Diesel Equipment Technology, Electrical Power &amp; Controls, HVAC Technology, Industrial Maintenance, Logistics Technology and Welding.<\/p>\n<p>Fall classes begin Monday, Aug. 27. For more information on TSTC, visit tstc.edu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(RED OAK) &#8211; Texas State Technical College in North Texas celebrated its first Commencement on Monday, August. 20 as graduates walked the stage in the presence of their family and friends. \u201cThis is a special occasion,\u201d TSTC Provost Marcus Balch told those gathered at the Waxahachie Convention Center. \u201cNot only are we celebrating our graduates [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-northtexas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3353","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=3353"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3357,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3353\/revisions\/3357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}