(NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas) – More than 40 students received certificates of completion or associate degrees at Texas State Technical College’s Summer 2025 Commencement for the New Braunfels campus on Monday, Aug. 25. The ceremony was held at the Embassy Suites by Hilton San Marcos Hotel Convention Center.
The ceremony marked the first group of students to earn the certificate of completion in Welding Technology – Structural Specialization at the campus.
“This is only the beginning,” said Will Beck, a campus team lead. “There are some that made it a long way. They came in with a range of experience.”
Joel Anaya, of New Braunfels, was a TSTC Board of Regents honor graduate and received the Provost’s Award for academic achievement.
Anaya’s journey spans the nation. He grew up in Alaska and quit school when he was a teenager to work to help his family. He went on to earn a GED. Fast-forward several years, and he and his wife, Monica, who is from Houston, were living in Las Vegas, Nevada. The couple began scouting the New Braunfels area during the pandemic as a future home for when she finished her service in the U.S. Air Force.
Anaya said he learned about TSTC’s welding program on social media. He used his pension from FedEx to help fund his time in college.
“I had an interest in welding but never had the financial opportunity to do it,” he said.
He said TSTC’s location in New Braunfels was convenient for him.
“My wife was my biggest supporter,” Anaya said. “She believed in me and had my back.”
Anaya began work earlier this week at United Alloy Inc. in Seguin as a welder.
Cyrus Farmer, of New Braunfels, studied business and criminal justice at another college but did not find it interesting enough for him. He said he learned about TSTC from a co-worker at Home Depot.
Farmer said he enjoyed learning how to do tungsten inert gas welding.
“I go to school to learn,” he said. “Welding is the most challenging thing I have ever done.”
Farmer took a welding test earlier this week for a potential employer in Seguin.
John Michael “Bubba” Thompson III, of New Braunfels, played baseball in high school but due to an injury changed his postgraduation plans to studying welding.
“The technology was cool,” he said of the program. “I enjoyed working in a brand-new lab.”
Thompson will now convert to full-time work at ShadePro in New Braunfels, where he welds recreational awnings and shade structures.
TSTC’s fall semester starts Tuesday, Sept. 2. For more information, go to tstc.edu.