Texas State Technical College Waco's new Texas Aerospace Center of Excellence (Bellmead: renting, find a job)

[sillyours]

TSTC Waco has recently broke ground to build a $11.5 million Texas Aerospace Center of Excellence. TSTC will offer new degree programs: Air Traffic Control and Air Dispatch. I work at TSTC Waco, so I am including this story from Waco Tribune Herald. Last week, we had a 747 plane arriving at TSTC Airport because the company needed our runway to practice dropping disperants before flying to the Gulf of Mexico to help out with the oil spill.

TSTC breaks ground on cutting-edge flight center | Wacotrib.com

By Mike Copeland Tribune-Herald business editor
Friday May 14, 2010

It is thought that industries will find Texas State Technical College-Waco irresistible when the school completes its $11.5 million Texas Aerospace Center of Excellence by late next year.


That’s the assessment of Jeff Beene, director of TSTC aviation programs. He spoke at groundbreaking ceremonies Thursday for the center, where students will receive cutting-edge training.


Some will become pilots or dispatchers. Others will become mechanics, avionics technicians or air-traffic controllers.
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The bottom line, Beene said, is that aviation companies will find it hard to resist the combination of this new 82,500-square-foot training center and the 8,600-foot-long airport runway at its doorstep.


The school worked with the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce to host several different companies looking to expand their options or relocate, Beene said.


The businesses already like what Waco has to offer, he said, and this project could prove a decision-maker.


“It’s all about jobs and changing lives,” said Bill Segura, chancellor of the TSTC system. “We are adding economic power to the state of Texas” with construction of the aerospace center.


TSTC-Waco already offers aviation courses, but classes are scattered around campus. The center puts them all under one roof, where they will have more classroom and lab space.


The school can add courses the industry may request, and that could bring more employers to Waco.


TSTC will replace its current air-traffic-control tower with one costing $1.5 million. The Federal Aviation Administration has certified it to become only the second school in Texas to teach air-traffic control.


City Manager Larry Groth said industries around the country will take note of Waco. He called the center “essential” to the city’s mission of becoming an aviation powerhouse.


Beene said the new building will have more lab space for students learning about composite materials and their place in aviation.The school wants to offer an advanced certificate in repairing and making the materials.


“Composite materials play a huge role in many other industries, so our students will be working on more than just aviation-related applications,” Beene said. “That’s very exciting.”


L-3 Communications operates a massive complex at the TSTC airport, where it modifies commercial and military aircraft. It already employs students, and officials therelook forward to having more to choose from.

TSTC system Chancellor Bill Segura prepares to don a hard hat and grab a shovel during ceremonies Thursday at the college.


“We work with TSTC on the Aviation Career Education program. These are students who want to become aircraft mechanics. They go to school, and once they progress through a couple of semesters, they go to work for us,” L-3 spokesman Lance Martin said. “They also can get a job after they graduate, if we have one available.”


TSTC-Waco lies within La Vega Independent School District in Bellmead. The Bellmead Economic Development Corp. gave $250,000 toward construction of the aerospace center.


“According to the research and studies we’ve done, we see a $300,000 economic impact over 10 years from the additional students shopping in our area and renting housing,” Bellmead City Manager Victor Pena said.
Lacy-Lakeview City Manager Mike Nicoletti said his city near campus “most definitely” will benefit from TSTC’s expansion.


He said he expects sales-tax revenue to rise as restaurants and stores see a boost in business.He said he also thinks property taxes could surge from an influx of new TSTC or industry employees.

[TedH71]

Be aware Composite Technology is not all what it's promised to be. I graduated with a cert in Machining Technology only to be unable to find a job due to the lay offs of 45 thousand machinists in my area (Wichita, KS..where it's aerospace manufacturing capitol of the world) then went back to school for a cert in Composite Technology only to find out that the average pay for entry level is $8-10 an hour with a small chance of increased pay and on top of that Kansas isn't even in the radar for companies who are doing composite work! Most of it is in California, Texas, Florida and other states. I am glad to see that TSTC is doing well since the last time, I went there it was called TSTI. I quit due to the politics of the school. I am deaf and they used to have a department that dealt with mostly deaf people. Turns out the director of the program was skimming money from the interpreters' fundings (the interpreters were paid FAR less than they were worth) and was married to a dean at TSTI. She was busted then fled the school. Several years later I found that woman teaching at some other institute and informed them of what a con artist she was. From what I understood was that she was finally arrested and charged with theft. In any case, that director was making all the deaf students have to take prep courses even though most of them didn't need it because in her opinion, deaf students didn't have good enough English to pass the courses. What the heck! I passed TAKS that year with flying colors and had college level English by the time I was a freshman in high school. Good thing she was arrested.