Hundreds of area high school students visit TSTC for TechXperience Day

(ROSENBERG, Texas) – It was already busy early in the morning on Friday, March 22, at Texas State Technical College’s Fort Bend County location as some TSTC staff members and students prepared for visiting high school students. They would soon arrive by bus from a number of area high schools, all for the experience of touring the college and seeing what they could learn there.

Shirin Purnell, TSTC’s senior enrollment officer at the Fort Bend County location, worked hard to make this year’s TechXperience Day a reality.

“I think today really showed how family-oriented TSTC is with how we all pulled it together,” Purnell said. “TechXperience Day is our way to introduce students to another avenue of learning and to excite them about higher education.”

Over 17 high schools and roughly 700 students visited TSTC. As they arrived, TSTC staff and faculty led them in groups around to the various technical programs. At each, the students were given a brief introduction to the program before being invited to ask questions.

Many students already knew what they wanted to do or what programs they were interested in. As one group entered the Diesel Equipment Technology program, many eyes lit up and exclamations like “this is what I’ve been waiting for” could be heard.

The majority of the high school students in attendance were juniors and seniors, in the prime age for deciding what they want to do with their lives career-wise. Questions about pay, work hours, program length and more helped them get a better sense of what life at TSTC — and subsequently their careers — might be like.

“We want them (the high school students) to truly experience TSTC,” provost Bryan Bowling said. “The vast majority of students decide on a college within minutes of walking on campus. We want to show them the entire college experience — yes, it’s high wage; yes, it’s highly technical; and yes, it’s very fun.”

Summer and fall registration for current TSTC students begins Monday, March 25, and for new students on Monday, April 8. For more information, visit tstc.edu.