![\"Cheyenne](\"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/TSTC-Grad-Cheyenne-Kuta-72dpi.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nKuta was exposed to the field of welding at an early age by her grandfather and uncle. She eventually began her own welding journey in high school.<\/p>\n
She quickly rose to the top, beating a lot of the boys in her class and earning two \u201cTop 10 Awards\u201d in the high school\u2019s welding department.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really got into welding. I loved it and I was good at it,\u201d said Kuta. \u201cI had a lot of support and a great mentor.\u201d<\/p>\n
That mentor was Don Tullos, president of Texas Boiler Makers in Kuta\u2019s hometown. Kuta said he took her under his wing and always encouraged her to continue in the field no matter what the men said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere came a point where I was going to Don\u2019s shop every day to practice my welding,\u201d said Kuta. \u201cThen one day he told me, \u2018You\u2019re really great at this. You could make this a career.\u2019 And it all changed for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tullos was also the person who introduced Kuta to TSTC. She toured both the Waco and Fort Bend County campuses, and although further from home, TSTC in Fort Bend County was the perfect fit for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a new campus with new labs and equipment. I couldn\u2019t wait to start,\u201d she said. \u201cThere were also still smaller class sizes so that meant more one-on-one time with instructors.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was August 2017, when Kuta enrolled at TSTC, set up a trailer at a local RV park, where she stayed during the week; and sped up her program completion by testing out of Welding Technology introduction courses because of the welding experience she brought from high school.<\/p>\n
Kuta was even inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society.<\/p>\n
\u201cTSTC was a really great experience for me. It was a great place to kick-off my welding career,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I was fortunate enough to have instructors who believed me, supported me and pushed me to be the best welder I could be.\u201d<\/p>\n
TSTC Welding Instructor David Torres called Kuta a great welding student who is goal driven.<\/p>\n
\u201cCheyenne is very dedicated and you can see that dedication in her welding abilities,\u201d said Torres. She\u2019s always lending a helping hand and coming in early and staying late to build her skills. She will go far in this industry; I know she\u2019ll make it because she has all of the skills. Her future is bright.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kuta also said the best thing, for her, about graduating from TSTC, is that she is leaving debt free because of a collection of scholarships she received in high school, financial aid and non-traditional students scholarships from TSTC and other welding industry organizations.<\/p>\n
Her advice for other students, \u201cAlways put yourself out there. Apply for scholarships, you just never know. This is a possibility for everyone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She also wants other girls and women to know that there is no need to feel intimidated about entering into a male-dominated career.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t be scared. If you have a passion for something and you want to do it, do it,\u201d Kuta said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can do the job just as good, if not better, than the men. Let\u2019s show them what we got.\u201d<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s in Kuta\u2019s future?<\/p>\n
She has already begun the job application process. She has interviewed with several oil field companies such as National Oilwell, Conroe and Baker Hughes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe oilfield is where the jobs are at and I can\u2019t wait to get started,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Kuta also hopes to become a Certified Welding Inspector and a Certified Welding Instructor in the coming years.<\/p>\n
For more information on Welding Technology, visit tstc.edu\/programs\/WeldingTechnology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(FORT BEND) – Cheyenne Kuta was only 16-years-old when she purchased her first $5,600 welding machine, she knew at the time that this would be a great investment toward her future. Fast forward to December 2018, she is now a graduate from Welding Technology at Texas State Technical College in Fort Bend County. \u201cI\u2019m so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fort-bend"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3667","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=3667"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3669,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3667\/revisions\/3669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}