(ROSENBERG, Texas) – Six HVAC students from Texas State Technical College’s Fort Bend County campus traded their lab time for a front-row seat at the Fluke Xcelerate Thought Leadership Day on Monday, March 9, in Austin.
Xavier Gonzalez, Austin Marshall, Edwin Padron, Ari Rauda, Jesse Tabango and Kory Walther attended the event, which was a specialized portion of the annual Xcelerate Conference, hosted by Fluke Reliability. During the event, the students gained hands-on exposure to advanced tools and toured the company’s Reliability Lab, where they observed the testing procedures and precision engineering required for maintaining the equipment they may use during their careers.
Marshall, a Rosenberg native, said the visit was an eye-opening experience.
“We were amazed by how many industry leaders are ready to hire new technicians,” he said.
Rauda, of Rosenberg, said the company’s lab was a highlight of the trip.
“It was interesting to see how advanced much of the equipment is becoming,” he said. “An example is a thermal imager. You can connect it to your smartphone and it acts as a thermal imager.”
Vineet Thuvara, the chief product officer at Fluke, said it was a pleasure hosting TSTC students at the conference.
“At a time when our industry is facing a growing skills shortage, experiences like this are critical to accelerating the path from classroom to career,” Thuvara said. “By giving students hands-on access to industry tools, our Reliability Lab and direct engagement with experts, we are helping shorten the learning curve before they even leave school.”
The event also served as a platform for student voices. Gonzalez and Tabango joined Nolan Beilstein on the “Gen Z in Manufacturing” podcast to discuss their views on the HVAC industry as they pursue a technical education.
“My favorite part of the podcast was listening to the employer questions,” Gonzalez said. “Their openness to our feedback was their top priority.”
Beilstein, an associate editor at Industrial Media, LLC, and host of the podcast, said the notion that young people do not want to work in the trades is false.
“Young people want to feel like their work has a purpose,” Beilstein said. “The talent is out there. Companies just have to find them.”
Registration for the summer and fall semesters at TSTC starts Monday, March 30. For more information about TSTC, visit TSTC.edu.