TSTC, TX FAME celebrate National Manufacturing Month

(NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas) – Texas State Technical College and the Texas Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (TX FAME) Lone Star Chapter hosted the TSTC National Manufacturing Month Celebration on Tuesday, Oct. 24, in New Braunfels.

“We thought this needed to happen based on the fact that TSTC is here now, and manufacturing being a major staple and key to the region’s economic success,” said Mike Anderson, TSTC’s vice president of operations.

The event was held at the Central Texas Technology Center located next to the New Braunfels National Airport. It served as a time for business recruitment to generate interest in more area companies sponsoring students for education and workforce opportunities at the FAME Technical Center.

“TSTC reminds us that modern manufacturing plays a major role in our economy,” said Donna Dodgen, mayor of Seguin.

Mike Reeser, TSTC’s chancellor and CEO, said the college is unlike any other in the state because of its statewide mission to put Texans in great-paying jobs.

“We focus on the really high-value industrial needs of the employers in Texas,” he said. “That is why it was so easy when the FAME chapter approached us to say, ‘Yes, let’s get together and make a new training facility here in this region.’”

Reeser said having a presence in the region means that TSTC can help keep up with and in front of workforce demands in the future.

State Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, represents District 25. She highlighted TSTC’s returned-value funding formula, which funds the college not on contact hours but on the employment outcomes realized by its students. She said this helps students and their families and keeps Texas strong.

“This is such a unique college,” Campbell said. “What a blessing it is for children when they come here and they get paid while they are working, (learning) a skill that makes them very marketable.”

The FAME Technical Center is a partnership between TSTC and TX FAME’s Lone Star Chapter.

The first cohort of TSTC students began classes at the center in August. The 15 students are working toward Associate of Applied Science degrees in Industrial Systems – Advanced Manufacturing Technology. Each student is sponsored by an area company. Students take classes two days a week and work at their sponsoring company three days a week. The job-training program is registered with the U.S. Department of Labor.

“It’s a void we have had, and I’m so glad it is being filled,” Neal Linnartz, mayor of New Braunfels, said of the training that the center offers.

A second cohort is scheduled to begin in fall 2024.

For more on FAME, go to tstc.edu/campuses/txfame/.

For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.