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'Victoria's Best Kept Secret' Provides Job-Market Skills to Its Students

Posted on: Monday, 9 January 2006, 18:00 CST

By Jim Bishop, Victoria Advocate, Texas

Jan. 9--Here in Victoria, for almost 40 years now, there has been a school where people have learned the skills to survive in the job market, and yet its director still calls it "Victoria's best kept secret."

Texas Vocational Skills began as a simple welding school, but from that humble beginning has grown to an institution with 10,000 square feet of space containing four computer labs, 10 classrooms and modern break rooms.

It's a school where students can learn a lot about business and accounting, attend computer classes, get the skills necessary to become paralegals and legal assistants, work toward being a medical office specialist, and more.

After talking at length with the folks who run the school, I came away very impressed with the depth of caring they have for their students.

And students come in many forms. The current enrollment ranges in age from 18 to 60.

Linda Simmons walked into the private propriety school 22 years ago to borrow a typewriter so that she could put together a resume to hunt for a job. She ended up being offered a job at the school, and has been there ever since. For the past two years, in fact, she's been the director.

Julie Heibel is newer to the school as its admissions director, but no less enthusiastic about what it can do for improving the job skills of people wanting to step up in the job market. Often, she'll go out to high schools and job fairs to let the kids know what they offer.

"We take great pride in the school," Julie says. "These people need an education, and they know they do, but they're scared, not too sure of themselves.

"It's a hands-on approach to education. That's how we teach."

But in the seven to 10 1/2 months it takes to develop themselves at Texas Vocational Schools, Julie says, their confidence grows, and with it their prospects. "You can almost see their future. I'm their biggest cheerleader."

Linda and Julie say that the simple truth is not everyone is a candidate for larger universities, for any of a number of reasons. For instance, some people who missed college earlier in life now have spouses and children to care for, limiting the time they can spend in education.

And there are financial considerations. At Texas Vocational Schools, students are shown various methods for possibly obtaining financial assistance.

Even when young people can attend college, "A lot of people go to bigger universities and never finish," Linda says. "Here, in seven months or a little more, they can finish. Then, they can do more if they want, or not if they don't."

The ladies feel that the education a student receives at Texas Vocational Schools can be equivalent to two years at a university, "mainly because of the amount of hands-on instruction they get."

One of the school's graduates has been a friend and a valuable asset at the Victoria Advocate since 1998.

DeDe Herron began as an editorial assistant and has worked her way to a copy editor in the features department today.

She says she enjoyed the school because of the "large variety of students." And, she says, "the teachers kept the classes informative and interesting. It wasn't like we were in school, it was like we were getting on-the-job training."

Students get more than their diploma upon graduation from Texas Vocational Schools. As part of their instruction, students learn how to prepare a good resume, and how to dress and conduct themselves in a job interview.

They even conduct mock interviews with the students. And the school will help with leads on job placement.

Linda and Julie point to graduates like a woman who today is a registered nurse in Victoria. She attended Texas Vocational Schools, then went to two other colleges to finish up her required studies. But without the start she got at the vocational school, developing her basic skills, she tells Linda and Julie she would never have made it.

"That's very heartening for our teachers," Linda says.

In April, Texas Vocational Schools will graduate still another class -- bright, happy, confident faces, better prepared to join the workforce.

And there will be Linda, Julie, all the staff and teachers of Texas Vocational Schools, busily cheering them toward a brighter future.

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To see more of Victoria Advocate, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.thevictoriaadvocate.com.

Copyright (c) 2006, Victoria Advocate, Texas

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Source: Victoria Advocate, Victoria, Texas

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