(ROSENBERG, Texas) – Vanesa Medrano wanted to fix things. Coming from a job in social work, she would often see broken things from doorknobs to appliances to machines. It sparked a desire in her to learn how to fix them.
“I wanted to solve more problems in my work,” Medrano said. “I couldn’t really do anything about it back then, but now I can fix just about anything.”
Medrano decided to turn that desire into an opportunity to learn. She applied to Texas State Technical College’s Industrial Systems program on the Fort Bend County campus and got to work. As she was working toward an associate degree in the program, she ended up getting an internship at the local Frito Lay warehouse in Rosenberg.
“Once I graduated, I was given the opportunity to apply to work full-time at the warehouse,” Medrano said. “It’s a big change from what I was doing before but I’m enjoying it.”
Medrano graduated from the program in May of this year. As a maintenance technician, she works to keep the robots and machines at the warehouse functioning at full capacity. But a great job doesn’t mean she has given up working toward more.
“My long-term goal is to be a manager of technicians,” Medrano said. “At the moment, though, I want to get the experience and get my hands dirty.”
For those who are hoping to follow in her footsteps and apply to the Industrial Systems program, she says to just go for it.
“Study more and take the chance at being in this program,” she said. “There’s always a benefit to it, both career-wise and personally.”
TSTC offers Industrial Systems at its Abilene, Fort Bend County, Marshall, New Braunfels, North Texas, Waco and Williamson County campuses. Associate of Applied Science degrees and certificates of completion are available.
Registration for TSTC’s fall semester is open. For more information, go to tstc.edu.