{"id":859,"date":"2016-10-05T15:15:11","date_gmt":"2016-10-05T15:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=859"},"modified":"2016-10-05T19:58:21","modified_gmt":"2016-10-05T19:58:21","slug":"tstc-student-veteran-receives-first-grant-from-military-organization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=859","title":{"rendered":"TSTC Student-Veteran Receives First Grant From Military Organization"},"content":{"rendered":"

(WACO) \u2013 Russa Bolton has 285 reasons to be happy about her career future.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bolton, 43, a Computer Networking and Systems Administration major at Texas State Technical College in Waco, recently received a $285 grant to take a network certification test next year.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am having to establish a standard now \u2013 how many females will come after me?\u201d Bolton said. \u201cThe standard is pretty high now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The nonprofit Our Digital Heroes Foundation in Austin was created last year to highlight the need for veterans to pursue certifications in technical areas. The organization\u2019s primary projects include matching disabled veterans to technical security work using and robots, besides administering continuing education grants.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe figured a place to start would be to help people with technology exams,\u201d said Robert Wagner, chairman of the board for Our Digital Heroes. \u201cRussa was our first grantee.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

TSTC Veterans Program Administrator Rachel Mims said she heard about the program from a TSTC recruiter at another campus. She called the organization and learned more about the grant program.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRussa is a great student and we are happy to have her,\u201d Mims said. \u201cShe is always so cheerful and positive. I\u2019m very glad we were able to connect her with Our Digital Heroes to help her with testing fees connected to her future career.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bolton wants to pursue a career in telecommunications after graduation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been tech savvy,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to enhance my talent and get skills that work anywhere in the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bolton is originally from Swakopmund, Namibia, in southwest Africa.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you grow up in a desert, you have a freedom of space,\u201d she said. \u201cWe aren\u2019t that populated.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She has a legal studies degree earned in South Africa and a criminal justice graduate degree from American Military University in West Virginia. Bolton has also lived in Germany and Great Britain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bolton came to the United States at 33 and served for six years in the U.S. Army as a combat medic. She was posted at Fort Hood, among other military installations, and served a tour of duty in Iraq.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bolton said she liked how TSTC was supportive to non-traditional students like herself.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think one institution can have so many special people,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information on TSTC Veteran Services and the Computer Networking and Systems Administration program, log on to tstc.edu.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"_dsc0889-resized\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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

(WACO) \u2013 Russa Bolton has 285 reasons to be happy about her career future. Bolton, 43, a Computer Networking and Systems Administration major at Texas State Technical College in Waco, recently received a $285 grant to take a network certification test next year. \u201cI am having to establish a standard now \u2013 how many females […]<\/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-859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-waco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859","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=859"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":862,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions\/862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}