(NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas) – Texas State Technical College’s New Braunfels campus is providing another way academically for current and incoming students to join the construction industry.
The Associate of Applied Science degree in Building Construction will debut this fall with classes focusing on topics such as building codes, residential and commercial drawings and workplace health and safety along with projects putting skills to practical use.
“This (associate) degree takes the hands-on skills from the certificate and adds management-focused courses, including our new Building and Contracting course,” said Rick Vargas, TSTC’s director of alignment for the Building Construction program. “This course will teach students what it takes to start their own construction company, including creating a business plan, acquiring funding, marketing, payroll, etc.”
Vargas said he is excited about the new degree program and giving students more opportunities to learn.
“They will graduate with not only the technical skills of our trade, but also the knowledge necessary to start a business within the construction industry,” he said.
Jose Cleto, of Schulenberg, is wrapping up the Building Construction program’s certificate of completion and plans to move into the associate degree program this fall.
“I’m already here and I like the material that is given to us and the way it is presented to us,” he said. “It’s only two semesters more, and project management is one of the classes we have to take, and building codes. But I feel like that’s more helpful, and it will help us out more in the long run.”
Cleto said he enjoys the one-on-one interaction with instructors along with the hands-on work inside the lab and on the outdoor trainer, a bare-bones building students practice on.
Cleto said having the associate degree should make him more desirable in construction’s various career fields.
Eric C. Kennedy, director of revenue and preconstruction strategy/employee owner at SpawGlass, said there are many opportunities along the Interstate 35 corridor tied to construction and manufacturing growth. He said now is a tremendous time for students.
“TSTC is really trying to put out a quality product,” Kennedy said. “It is just not the numbers game. We are a huge supporter of TSTC and believe in the product being provided.”
Lauren Mandel, president of the San Antonio Associated General Contractors, said there is no issue bigger than a lack of a qualified workforce. She said anything a higher education institution, no matter their size or offerings, can offer to entice people to enter a technical field is a step in the right direction.
“I think the earlier we can get to kids, the better,” Mandel said. “All of your common misconceptions about commercial and residential construction jobs — that they do not pay enough, there is no upward mobility, and all the narratives are what the construction industry has been fighting.”
Mandel said construction jobs will not be overridden by artificial intelligence (AI) because there is no substitute to the work done on sites, from pouring concrete to operating cranes.
“So many companies in the construction field have to learn to work with it and use it to our advantage,” she said. “It cannot be seen as coming for our jobs.”
The Texas Workforce Commission’s Texas Wages and Employment Projections predict more than 15,200 openings for construction laborers and more than 7,000 openings for construction managers and first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers through 2034.
TSTC’s New Braunfels campus also offers a certificate of completion in Building Construction – Craftsman.
The fall semester begins on Tuesday, Sept. 8.
Registration continues for the fall semester at TSTC. For more information, go to tstc.edu.