Welcome to the show. We're diving into the world
of local talent, artists, wrestlers, and businesses.
Let's get started. What's going on guys welcome
back to the true new podcast I am here again
with this thing. He showed up for some reason
He was already in my car when I got home. I don't
know He I don't know how he got in I guess he
finally found the keys or you finally how to
walk on two legs I don't know but anyways guys
Episode 263 we have a very special episode today.
Yes some broaden the doors a little bit more
to if for some reason you're sitting down because
man you get by myself and I stuck at the same
job over and over again I should go back to school
and get something going for my life. This is
the episode for you guys. I hope you guys are
tuned in. Thanks so much for last week's episode.
You guys did a great job. Tune in commenting.
It was great. We did. I did put the hamster flying
through the air right for I choose you pick up
to right. Yes. Yes. And they came up beautiful.
So other than that, guys, thank you again for
showing up with us. One more. time getting close
to 300 episodes slowly, but surely, and we're
going to get there. I don't know how, but we're
going to get there eventually. The year's almost
up. Oh, by the way, seven years doing the podcast.
Holy cow. I do most of the work. That's right.
It's hard to be this shining and spectacular
for seven years, especially with, you know, anyway.
You done working with dead weight? All right
today's podcast we got some special guess one
of the largest Guess that we had today today
a lot of pockets. We have well or yes in one
shot You've had three we've had maybe three and
a half and some people showed up We had supposed
to have five but they came in three and a half
or four and a half or whatever But today everybody's
present everybody's in in town. I feel so professional
right now. I don't know why, but a little bit.
Anyways, guys, let me blow my own horn here,
guys. Ladies and gentlemen, let me welcome South
Texas Votek Institution in the podcast. Welcome,
guys. Welcome to the show. Thank you for being
here. You all look great on camera, by the way.
Did I pee my Texas? Oh, you're in trouble. No,
we're in trouble. I'm fine. Guys, welcome to
the podcast, guys. First of all, thank you for
inviting us here and not only myself, but, you
know, allowing us to bring the team, you know,
behind every successful leader is an amazing
team. That's who we brought with us today. Yeah.
Go ahead and start. Start from, yeah. I'll go
and start myself. My name is Omar Trevino. I'm
the campus president for South Texas Vocational
Technical Institute in Wasaco. So excited and
happy to be here. My name is Elizabeth Cardenas,
director of admissions. All right. Jenny Rios,
Director of Education. There you go. Thank you
for having us. My name is Fabian Martinez. I'm
Director of Peer Services. There you go. Welcome
to the podcast. Welcome to the podcast. This
is actually the first time we actually had...
a college or an institute coming to the podcast,
I mean, you went to think like, oh, we want to
go with those rejects. Why would I want to be
on that show with those two rejects? Well, to
be completely fair, this was against their better
judgment. They saw the show and they still did.
You have to have a talk with, what was your name?
Judy? Judy? Yeah, Judy. We came in with our eyes
wide open. Judy, this is your fault. Is this
all your fault? No, I was joking. Should have
applied more pressure, dude. But anyways, guys,
thank you for coming to the show, man. Really
interested in everything you want to see. I'd
like to hear from you guys how this STBT is all
about. I know beforehand it used to be BoTech
at one point, right? And now it's South Texas
Vocational Technical Institute. So, I mean, tell
us a little story behind the background. South
Texas BoTech. Well, South Texas Vocational Technical
Institute has been around for over 50 years.
Wow. My understanding is it's, you know, initially
started off in Brownsville as a ESL. Right. You
know, and from there, just the brand continued
to grow across the valley, you know, went from
McAllen. Now there's, you know, campuses, three
campuses here in the valley. We have one in McAllen,
one in Brownsville, and of course, Westlaco.
We also have one in Corpus Christi. San Antonio
and this is a kicker is you know we have a South
Texas Vocational Technical Institute in North
Texas. We're just talking about that right now.
We continue to grow and service the communities
we're in. That's awesome. That's amazing. As
far as I mean I know knowing the fact that it's
from the RGB itself you have so many different
campuses here now it's grown it's spread out
even more now right? Correct. So I mean as far
as student wise in a total Well, it's more or
less a number, and you can give us all a number.
Well, for our campus, it's about 413 students
right now. Wow. And that's kind of replicated.
I believe McAllen now has about 437. And our
Brownsville campus is about 400. Just nice. Just
about to hit the 400. That's a lot of that's
lost. You know what? What does it take for something
like what we said beginning of the podcast? You
know, there's always that one guy or that one
gal, you know, they go not to say that they're
all gave a 95 job. What's wrong with it? But
sometimes you want to further yourself a little
bit more. I mean, what? What does it take to
get into the school? What is that you need, you
know? The great thing is that we offer flexible
schedules which still allows our students to
be able to keep their day jobs or evening jobs
and still manage to come to school in the mornings
or in the evenings. So that's one of the great,
you know, potentials that we have for our students
that they're still able to go to school. Right.
One of the biggest fears is how am I going to
do this? And it's probably one of the easiest
ways to get a career training within less than
a year. And how they get started is actually
in my department with admissions. All they have
to do is just call us, set up an appointment,
or they can just walk into the building. I have
a team of five admissions representatives. There's
more of you. So I have an entire team that takes
the time to discuss the different needs, motivations,
why, you know, discuss their career goals. Right.
Aside from that, so we get to know all of our
students by name, identify how we can find the
right fit for them, provide tours. We do offer
trade programs as well as allied health programs.
So there's plenty of programs for anyone that
has an interest in continuing their education.
That's awesome. Now, as far as the technical
school itself, It's just like we're talking about
earlier. We have a like welding which is one
of the one one thing we're gonna talk about in
a few minutes Welding what other like plumbing
electrical? What else whether what are the programs
or what a program program a welding program,
which is a trade right as well as our CDL Okay,
they're able to earn their CDO license along
with that We also offer allied health programs
which are more into like medical assisting dental
assisting and medical bidding and coding There
you go. There you go. But then we also have our
McCallan campus, you know, our McCallan campus
also offers HVAC, you know We're currently in
the process of automotive service technician
Brownsville has that as well So it's never spread
across the valley, but we offer a variety of
courses to meet the needs of our students and
the communities. And how are the classes? I mean,
get with you here also. I don't need two people
on the left. How are the classes like? I mean,
what's the hour period? I mean, what's that look
like? So like Ms. Karanas was saying, the flexibility
is there for morning and evening classes. So
our evening classes can begin from either 5 .30
or 6 p .m. up until 10 .30 during the week and
morning classes are from 8 a .m. to about 1 15
1 30 so just depending on which program you're
in so so yes it's it's very flexible of course
schedule and the beauty of these classes that
they're also offered on a hybrid basis as well
okay and now for somebody let's say someone doesn't
have a vehicle or somebody are there online classes
also available for this or this is more about
on hands all hands on deck Well, depending on
which program, like for example, the welding
program, it is hands -on. The medical assisting
program, hands -on. So there is hybrid, but most
of the training is in person, hands -on, yes.
Okay. All right. Because I know, I mean, everybody
in their own block, in your small little community,
they always have that one guy, oh, what is that
coming out? He knows how to weld, bro. He knows
how to weld. Did he go to school for it? He goes,
no, no, it's always the one that, you know, and
I always thought to myself, well, if you can
pick up that trade, you know that you're well
off. But in the other other way, I mean, you
want to get to these companies that are looking
for welders, you know, you need to have at least
a license to do this. And now they were talking
to step into welding itself. There was some sort
of competition that you guys automatically won.
some championship? Well, one of the things we
do is we try to engage our community. So we created
a competition across the valley called Weld Wars.
And at Weld Wars, we actually reached out to
our local high schools to see if any of their
students wanted to compete in it. And that's
where the program took off, or the actual competition.
So what that said is, you know, the students
got to participate. There were high school students
from all around the valley, you know, our La
Jolla campuses, PSJA, we had Brownsville Hanna,
we had Edinburgh, we had Westlico, everybody
competing against each other. At the end of the
day, they won individual prizes based off of
their performances, and the winning school actually
got to... receive welding equipment, welding
machines, some of the more expensive items. And
I also brought this along that, you know, the
winning team won some custom belt buckles. So
this was one of the things that they really enjoyed.
Just once again, it's customized for the event
that has the date and just once again. They won
the competition. Sponsored by WWE. That's awesome.
And were any of you here at that event that knew
what was going on? Yes, we're all present. We're
the ones that put it together. Oh, there you
go. There you go. I'm sorry, the support from
our great marketing department. You know, Andrew,
you did help us, you know. They helped us out
significantly facilitate this process. But even
at that, we had a lot of involvement from the
community. We did have that competition video,
but what you didn't see is we also had a live
band going on. We had some vendors there. you
know, a lot of other activities happening in
the background, free barbecue, all you can eat
drinks, you know, everything just to once again
engage the community because we had the families
coming in watching their children engage in the
welding competition. And not to mention the employers
we had there, we had a vast amount of employers
who were great, you know, to help us out. They
made donations. They were just actively involved
looking at the next level of welders coming in.
Exactly. You know, for us it was about Highlighting
the valley, you know highlighting the students
here Then these employers who some locally and
some out of the air and know that their talent
is here in the valley, right? Right. What kind
of feedback do you get from employers that are
looking for? so From the school they they love
it, right? We have employers calling us to recruit
from our school very particularly in the welding
field So that's kind of my area when you start
going into career services once you're finishing
your program we want to you know, assist in helping
you find that employment. That's not just you
complete your program and, you know, right. You
know, no, that's not the way it works. Yeah,
exactly. So what we what we want to do is make
sure that our students are confident when they're
coming to our school that by the time they're
done, they're lined up with a job. Right. And
although we can't guarantee the job because they
are. that they ultimately have to go through
interviews and complete tests and do certain
things to get hired, we do line them up with
those employers. So we help them set up the interview
with the employer. We even set up the tests.
In fact, just yesterday we had SpaceX on campus.
Oh, wow. OK. And they tested 15 of our students.
Half of those already have job offers. The others
are going to continue practicing. But then it
doesn't stop there. Today we had a large company
coming in from Ingleside. They came in and they
tested another group of our students at our school.
So we make sure that these employers come. They
recruit from our school. Our students are ready
to test with them. And a lot of them leave with
employment before they even graduate. So these
students that are being tested yesterday and
today, they haven't graduated yet. And they already
have a job aligned for them. That's got to make
them very excited to know that there's a possible
future out there. Definitely. Wow, that's great.
That's awesome. Especially with SpaceX. I don't
think people in the Valley really understand
the impact that SpaceX will have on them in the
future. There's going to be a whole new infrastructure
that's set up around just the science that's
going around SpaceX. And it's not just road construction.
It's not, you know, it's plumbing for homes and
for the businesses that are going to be sprouting
up around it. And so like hearing that, like
that's great. That's just a little sneak preview
of what's to come. And also to add to World Wars,
they are the judges, right? These employers are
the judges for this competition. So it's not
necessarily South Texas Boat Tick that's judging
these. the students that are competing, it's
those employers. They come and they participate.
They become part of that event. And they judge
those students. So they're giving them real feedback
from the industry. It's not just the education
portion, but it's the actual industry subject
matter experts that are coming in and they're
telling you, hey, you know what? You did amazing.
You deserve this award. That's great. That's
all. Oh, what's up, Brian Davis? Yes, you made
it on time, buddy. It's weird how they talk about
when you're talking about the assumption that
some of the companies are coming and come and
look at these students. And then when you say
that you help them out and go out and try to
get, you know, what is situated in the more and
more here, man, this this welding thing that
they're doing, all these companies came in. It
was like kind of like a combine, like an NFL
combine day draft day. You know, they come and
check out. Yeah. And then you got and then you
got your agent failing over here. I got this
kid that he could do for us. you're getting the
help you need to further yourself down for the
future I mean yeah okay you work in a retail
store you've been there for 30 years 20 years
15 years you're gonna come to a realization later
down live you're like man am I doing this for
the rest of my life and am I gonna be can I go
out, like I said, the welding, the plumbing,
the electrical, you know, and HVAC. Some of these
people that I know that have the license for
HVAC have their own companies, you know, and
they and they they're their own boss. They do
their own hours, man. And it's crazy. You know,
that's something I think that's what the goal
is for a lot of the older guys like me, the mid,
mid age guys and the younger young guys and the
young ladies are coming. Also, they want to be
their own boss. They want to set their own schedule.
They want to go when I'm ready to go. But at
the same time, you get hungry and you want to
get out there and get more. And that's what it's
all about. You know, this is your future. You're
planning your future. And to have these kind
of kind of institutes out there to help you do
that. And like you said, we're talking about
this earlier. You know, we go to school. We go
to high school. You're in there. You're doing
your thing. You know, you're in the football
team. You're basketball. OK, what did you do?
All right. Do you think you're going to make
the NBA NFL or you're going to be high gymnast?
Whatever. Go for it. Live your dream. Try to
get it. But you got to have something. in the
back burner, just in case. Injuries happen. Injuries
happen. It's not just that, like what I was saying
earlier before the show. When I was going to
school, it wasn't pushed, you know, that, oh,
you don't want to be a plumber. You don't want
to be an electrician. No, you want a good job.
You want to be a president or, you know, you
want to be a lawyer or doctor or something. So
you go to college for four years. And, you know,
as time goes on and you grow up, you realize
that's not really it. an option for some people.
You would have done really well in one of those
jobs. Having a CDL, that would have given you
freedom and money. Being a plumber, it would
have paid you really well. Being a welder, you
could have worked in the oil fields and that's
all kinds of crazy money too. I would have really
appreciated having STVT around at that time.
That's what I'm saying, you know. Educating me
as to like these, this is the reality. Yeah,
and don't get it wrong, there's some high schools,
even when I was back, like my son says, you were
born in 1900s, dad. Back in the early 90s, you
know, they had a vocational. classes. There was
a auto body part. Yeah, there was a business
computers of America. There was crafting, you
know, carpentry and they had all this stuff.
Exactly. But the thing is, the thing is that
said not to say it's a sad part because I know
they meant meant it to be something well, you
know, something, hey, you know what, maybe there
isn't the funds to go to to Harvard or to Miami
or these big colleges we dream we can go to.
Not to say aim lower, you gotta come realize
something. Hey, you know what? Maybe I should
start here and I'm doing this. Maybe then I can
try to shoot higher and have the funds to where
I need to go. You know, this will be my main
thing. As far as being 50 years, by the way,
I believe it was in 1975 when you were established.
That's the year I was born. But you know, has
the student base grown, has grown more? What
does the student base look like? Is it like mixed?
Is it like young people? It's very diverse. We
have individuals straight out of high school
and then we find those individuals that have
already, you know, completed a career and now
they're ready for something that they've always
wanted to do. It could be the medical industry
or, you know, the trade. I was going to mention
also that I know earlier we were talking about
CDL, how now, you know, we have team drivers
and spouses. naturally behind welding, I hear
more often now females joining the welding program.
Just because, you know, they have found that
their partners are working in the field. One,
you know, they want to be out there working with
them, and two, financially being more supportive.
And so it helps, you know, for both of them to
be away and, you know, making that money. And
I will say currently our welding population,
about 20 % of our welding pop is females. You
should see them walk. It's amazing. I mean, they
take so much pride. No, there's don't, but you
can see their dedication to their craft. I mean,
we've had some that have started off with us.
They've left and moved up and now they're supervisors,
managers at some of these companies within a
short period of time because of their dedication.
We always tell our students and you get out of
it what you put into it. Right. You know, and
one of the things we do for all of our welders
is, you know, if you're a student that you get
free tutor and you can always come back as alumni
to utilize our facilities, you know, what we
have there to continue practicing your craft
for additional employment opportunities. So it's
not just okay you're welding you know during
your classroom time But you can stay behind just
to continue to focus on your craft and and you
know once getting developed that exactly And
then the beautiful thing about that also once
you you graduate from from the Institute you
go off You do your job you establish off, you
know say you know what time for me to retire
You can always come back say you know what I
want to teach I want to teach, you know. Well,
if they're open to it. I'm pretty sure they are.
I mean, it's a beautiful art. I mean, welding
is a very beautiful art. I mean, just look at
it. You can't look at it directly. You'll mess
up your eyes. But it's a beautiful art. You know,
I've seen it done. I've seen it done hundreds
of times. And, you know, to do that, to learn
something, to have that in your back pocket and
say, you know what, I learned this. I would love
to share this, my experiences with the... the
new breed that's coming in. You know, I want
to show them what can, what to expect when you
go into this field. Well, I was imagining that
once the, you know, people graduating that have
been working in the field for a while, they actually
come back to STDT to do what these employers
are doing now, scope out new talent. Maybe they
have their own business. Prospects. Prospects.
Prospects. And if you watch the video, one of
those success stories is there. Oh, OK. Once
again, she was one of our, and she's an alumni.
She moved up, and now she was the one judging
the competition for the employer, trying to scope
out the new talent to recruit for that employer.
Did she have any stories to share? her career
or you know while she was on the job or anything
like that yeah i mean she did share a lot and
you want to and she says you know she felt you
know she was very confident and it comes across
you know she said but if y 'all would have had
this competition for us when i was here i would
have taken home the gold there you go Give her
the buck. And the championship belt. Yeah, no
kidding. I saw that belt, man. I saw that gentleman
holding it. I'm like, dude, that is, that is
freaking awesome. That is awesome. Don't worry,
we're going to get our own champion. Doesn't
matter. We're getting one. everyone else with
your face on it right buddy absolutely yeah of
course never fails but uh that's awesome man
i mean in each institute like you said you guys
are based in la jolla i believe the world was
the champions of world war was la jolla high
school high school okay all right now a great
team each school or institute y 'all have they
all have their their different uh There's some
similar courses that they offer, but when it
comes to trades, we're just slightly different.
But we operate within our communities. We do
a lot of community events. And part of what we
do is give back to the community in any way possible.
For example, we had what we call BYOB, know what
you think, in August. You almost had me. I was
almost there. Just go for it. Bring your own
backpack. Where we had about 800. families from
the community, 800 students kind of walked through
our doors and we gave out, you know, free food
and also back supplies or school supplies. We
do things like that all the time. We have one
upcoming. We partnered with Goodwill Industries
to do a trunker treat this year to where it's
a combination, a donation drive from Goodwill.
But also it's just a fun event for the community,
you know, to come out there safe. safe environment
for the kids to come enjoy, you know, the games
that we have, the activities and get some free
candy and just have, you know, a good time with
the festivities we have going on. So that's taking
place here in Wessico at our campus on August
30th. And it's right there outside in the community.
So we always have a good outcome. We love the
response that we get from the community here
in Wessico. I mean, they really show out and
we really appreciate it. I noticed I like to
observe my guests when they're sitting down,
but I've noticed that you're wearing a pin. Here
we go. Yes. What does that pin signify? Because
I see both of you wearing a pin. Fabian, where's
yours? It's actually a mantra. You know, one
and O. You know what? Win the day. You know,
at the end of the day. You know, you can have
a bad day one day, but hey, you know what? You
build up enough... one of those every day. You
know, you go to battle, you win every day. So
win the day is what the mantra is. I like that.
That's nice. You always have tomorrow. You get
one of these? We have to work tomorrow. Today's
my day. To do what? I don't know what's gonna
happen. Something's got to happen. Tomorrow has
to be better than today. Yeah, exactly. You're
way better than the last. I've seen, I forgot
the name of the gentleman, the Navy SEAL who
gave that speech, man, a long time ago. I was
watching on a YouTube channel, a YouTube video.
And he talks about that, you know, how they go
through different steps of being a Navy SEAL.
And the number one step, first one is making
your bed every morning. And I never understood
that. I go, OK, make your bed. OK, never make.
It didn't make sense to me. Okay, right every
day He would make his bed every day. Maybe it
had to be nice and straight had to be early You
can bounce the quarter off of it and everything
now. Okay, he never stood neither But the conclusion
of that making your better day. He said everything
might have gone wrong the whole day But you did
one thing right and you made your bed the bed
came out the perfect thing today so that was
the best thing of the day so i'm like this kind
of like the one i know so something like that
so yeah man that's that's beautiful that's that's
awesome that's awesome mine is not burning the
tortillas in the market you can move beyond that
right here everything else can go straight to
hell but i made a good non -burned tortilla we'll
see how i try to try to have a promising moment
yeah get down from there that's what's beautiful
So I know you brought us some, by the way we're
hanging up all this stuff. Even in our buddies
next door, we're hanging up there too. They put
a camera over here, we're at number two, right?
Yeah, number two. They came and gave us some
of these little bad boys here. These are handful,
man. Really cool pins. Finally something for
the wall. We'll put it right here. Look at that
right there. Yeah, that's a good, nice there.
And I saw you brought some more stuff with us.
This is awesome. This is great. Thank you so
much. I'll use that language for work, for sure.
And I'll throw the frisbee to two later on after
the show. Can't do it with your mouth. No, but
as to something else I was going to ask you right
now also. Hey, no problem. So you say for anybody
coming to this, it doesn't matter what age. It
doesn't matter what age as long as they hold
a high school diploma or GD. okay um even at
that for individuals that do not have not completed
their high school program um we also offer in
coral high school which allows them to be able
to go online and earn the credits needed for
them to earn their high school and accredited
high school diploma wow and that is online that's
something That's something new. That would be
so very helpful to a lot of children. Yes, absolutely.
Because I know that there are reasons people
may not make it all the way through high school
to complete their education. And that's really
like a big roadblock to them. They just can't
get past that. I didn't finish high school, so
I'm just going to be a taxi driver or something.
Nothing wrong with that. But if they want to
improve... That is really, you know, that's really
a light that they can look forward to completing
their education and then moving forward finally.
You have the option of, you know, either enrolling
at our campus or they can attend any university
or college of their choice. Oh, so that adds
on. Is it sort of like a college credit or something
like that? How does that work? No, it would be
a high school diploma. With that, they can go
to any college and then go out. Oh, I understand.
All right. All right. Well, that's pretty cool.
I mean, to have that option, because I know sometimes
there are a couple of students through the years,
you know, they go through a rough patch and they
say, you know what, high school isn't for me.
They go off, get a job, do what they got to do.
And then so, you know what, I wish I could go
back. and some lean towards the GED. That was
always the option. Yeah, we always knew brainiacs
out there. They were like, you know what? I'm
too smart for this school. I'm going to get a
GED. I'm going to get out of here. Yeah, exactly.
And that never really worked out. And you're
still working at the show cake. But yeah. Nothing
wrong with working at the show cake. No, no,
nothing wrong. That's your dream job. Yeah, but
you know you can do better for yourself. Yeah,
exactly. That option for say, you know what?
Maybe I should go back and get my diploma. Maybe
I should try jump online and do that because
I know a while back my mom went into get her
GED also, you know, she she wanted to finish
and I believe she did finish and she did get
the GED after all. I believe so. But this is
something. you know, great for young men, young
ladies that decide, you know what, like you said,
smart guys, smart girls, yeah, I'm too good for
this, I'm like, I wanna leave. And they go off
in the wonder of, oh, and then they realize,
man, that was a big mistake. I need to go back
and get, you know, like I said, the first thing,
GED. But now you're saying an actual high school
diploma. That is awesome. And on a daily basis,
we come across individuals that are not confident
about, you know, either earning their high school
diploma or obtaining a degree in welding or medical
field. But a lot of things that we do at the
campus level is we have a lot of support, a lot
of encouragement, motivation to allow them to
be able to take the next step. It can be the
scariest thing. Once they get their foot in the
door and they find that they have the support
at the campus, then it makes it a lot easier
for them. That's awesome. See, that's another
thing that people don't really talk about is
sometimes you need support. You need to know
that it is okay that you didn't, you're not where
you thought you'd be. Exactly. It is okay where
you are and you want to do better and we see
you and we want to help you. And now on, you
know, kind of on that subject, the big question
is, how do we pay for this? You know, tell us
about financial aid. How easy is it? What do
people need to know about that? Very good question.
Yeah, that's one that's everybody's mind, the
financial aid thing. How does that work? We are
federally funded, so we do offer financial aid,
just like any other university or college, and
that was through different programs. We offer
the FAFSA, which allows you to be able to apply
for Pell Grants, SEOG Grants, student loans,
monthly payments. So we have different payment
options. Many times individuals just are afraid
of asking, but once they find that they meet
with a financial aid officer at our campus one
-on -one, they're able to find out that there's
areas or opportunities for them to be able to
apply for that, as well as scholarships that
we offer at the campus. So there's many different
ways. It's just a matter of... just walking into
the campus, speaking with a financial aid officer
and we can, you know, give them a payment plan
which is accessible for them to be able to handle.
And then the grant that they would be, that they
could apply for, that would be dependent on the
field that they want to go into, or? The scholarships
and grants, yeah. So like, you know, high school
graduates get a grant. There's certain, you know,
criterias, but there's some, for some of the
scholarships, there's a little bit of, you know,
an application process. You know, they have to
put something into it. You know, they have to
write an essay letting us know why they chose
that career field, why it means so much. And,
you know, it's reviewed based off of that. So,
you know, there's certain categories or criteria
in order for them to get that. But even in addition
to that, you know, We really try to do the right
thing for the right reasons, right? You know,
as far as trying to remove barriers and really
helping out these students. So we have a great,
you know. community resources available for our
students, you know, we have partnerships with
all community service agencies, you know, workforce
also offers a WIOA grants to help support the
students funding while they're going, you know,
to help pay for their tuition, but also while
they're going to school to help, you know, with
support services, you know, transportation assistance,
rental assistance, all these other options. So
we have a great partnership with them to help
support our students because we know that once
again, they're trying to improve the quality
of their life. You know, they're encountering
and we're trying to connect with those opportunities
because we know that at the end of the day, it's
all in the best interest of the student to improve
their life and quality of life, but then also
become active contributing citizens here in our
communities. That's awesome, man. That's awesome.
We're going to stop pausing that note because
we got sponsors. We got to take care of today,
so I'm going to go ahead and change the camera
over here to these. Two handsome men right here.
But first off, first off, a big shout out to
the construction guys, residential commercial.
Still with us. Yeah, still with us. Awesome.
I can't believe they went in. And construction
guys, these guys are a great company. Tony does
a great job of craftsmanship, you know, building
new homes, commercial based residential remodel
renovation. These guys do it all, man. And I
know there'll be sponsors also with their concrete
company next. So that's going to be another must.
Tony, if you're watching, keep an eye out, man,
with these Votek guys. They got prospects. I
know you're always looking for great plumbers,
great electricians. This is where you need to
go get the nitpicking from. These are the guys
you want to talk to. Nose Construction, guys,
great sponsor of the podcast. Big shout out to
those guys. Like always, guys, every brick. Nose
Construction building your dream with every brick.
Also, big shout out to Pandora's Box, tattoo
parlor up in Edinburgh, Texas, to Freddy Honda.
Freddy, I know. I was supposed to go out there
and go get another tat. Didn't have time, bro.
It's been crazy the last couple days, especially
October. He's getting lazy, Fred. Yes, I am ready.
Yes, I am lazy. I'm being too damn lazy. It's
getting cooler. Guys, head out, hit Freddy up,
kick him on QR code, give him a call, let him
know, chewing you sensual. Also, another sponsor
sponsoring our promotional posters out there
in their shop is the Valley Trophies LLC. Guys
give it hit them up. They got trophies plaques
fantasy fantasy football, man You can get your
championship something your champion and your
loser, which is the toilet Which is the last
one has the best one to go out there also big
shout out to extreme nutrition LLC Located north
of west to go off the expressway juices protein
shakes for all your smoothie bowls and Supplements
guys you want to get your health back in health
get your whole system working 100 % Look these
guys up. Let them know to you said you close
your ears. You won't hear this one Big shout
out to, not you, you idiot. Big shout out to
Texas Toke Smoke Shop, your place for CBD and
all your smoking essentials. Guys, Hakes and
Pains, you got cream for Hakes and Pains and
all the other stuff you need to use, man, give
them a call, let them know, tune in and such.
Last but not least, Gallery Cactus, our old stomping
ground, our old studio, ah, the great old good
old times. Looking for crafts, memorabilia, or
vintage clothing, give these guys a call, head
out to their place. every Friday and Saturday
nights with live entertainment. You will not
miss. It is a great opportunity to go out there
and enjoy the Westical nightlife. And the last
one I see here, I do have the two new podcast
caps. You guys are still available. We got quite
a few, but if you buy them with us here, they
run a little bit cheaper. Please buy them. We're
overstocked. I'm sick of tripping over boxes.
Please buy something they were last once six
years ago cats They're still good But now guys,
thank you to all our sponsors supporters. Oh
also Last but not least they gave me two tickets
right here to the corn maze and Donna They'll
be open already on Friday Saturday and Sunday
two free tickets. Who might give the ticket to?
I don't know. I don't know. I guess. Here you
go. Here's your free ticket, buddy. I'm not going
for that. Take your kid. All right, you're right
there. We'll see. Well, maybe we'll raffle them
off. I don't know. But yeah, they came over to
the shop today, dropped it off. They'll be open
Friday, Saturdays, and Sundays. Fun for all families,
kids and adults. And don't forget, Halloween's
around the corner, guys. They do have a little
spooky section for the family to go entertain
themselves. So you might want to... jump in and
have some of that. You better get in early, because
that place is going to be packed. Super packed.
I'm not sure that drive -thru car wash is already
packed or not. I'm not sure if they already started
already. I don't know either, dude. Maybe. I
don't know. Last year was just horrible. The
line was ridiculous. But anyways, back to our
guest here. We have him back on our podcast.
Thank you for the long, the hesitant wait there,
guys. I'm sorry. I apologize. Sorry, we scared
you. It's just something we got to do. So being
in the October. month, October 2nd, to be precise.
We like to talk a little bit of Halloween. Basically,
everybody, when Halloween starts, everybody starts
watching scary movies. Everybody's into scary
movies, everybody likes to watch their favorite
scary movie. My question, from left to right,
or from, yeah, left to right, yeah. No, my right
to left, or your left to right. You know what
I'm talking about. Oh my gosh. That's a good
question. I'll get into it, let me warm up, I'm
like a pitcher, I'm warming up. Here comes the
curve. Favorite scary movie of all time. Go ahead,
which one is it? I'm gonna be completely honest
with you. I do not like scary movies. Ever since
I saw The Exorcist, that's all I have to say.
That's all you have to say? I can't. When I saw
that movie for the first time, I know my parents
had just... I think there used to be a... I think
it was at Perry's here down here in west. It
was a long time ago. My dad rented that VHS thing
or the beta. Oh, yeah. You know what I'm talking
about? Yeah. And my dad or somebody, I mean,
I said he said he just grabbed it and he gets
home and he was he got three movies because it
was a package deal. Three movies in the VCR.
He's paid for so much for one day. Yeah. So he
had to knock out three movies in one day. So.
We watched the first two. I didn't really like
the last one. It was already later on. We're
gonna see a scary movie. My mom said, I was like,
oh, I think it was like maybe seven, seven, eight
years old, I think. I don't really remember.
She slaps it in there and it starts happening.
It starts out with like, what the heck is this?
And then, you know, it so goes on and so forth.
Then the little girl gets possessed and all that.
Oh my God. Ladies and gentlemen, I went to church
for four months straight. i was traumatized i
think the first time i saw that that movie i
i noked out when she like spider crawled down
the stairs oh that was the new the new the new
one when she does the spider crawl the new one
yeah yeah yeah yeah that was the most trippiest
thing so none for me so never get it up i'm done
well you at least should kept yourself at the
right movie here sure It had to be The Exorcist,
you know, although she said that, yeah, The Exorcist.
I mean, I loved it as a kid. Well, I was terrified
of it as an ultimate horror movie. But then also
the original Salem's Lot as a kid that was scared
the living daylights of, you know, let's get
the little kid knocking on the window. I mean,
I was probably about eight years old. Never should
have missed the window. That's a very good one,
man. They released a new one, I'm mistaken, right?
Correct. I know you want to go see that one,
too? Yeah. The new Salem's Lot? How was that?
It was terrible. It was terrible! Well, just
to be honest, it was terrible. It was crap, yeah.
We always expect more on the remakes, but they
can never live up to the original. It doesn't
have the same kick and zing of the original.
I've seen it before, it was done better the last
time. That's my opinion. And I'll take that opinion
as a result. I think the exorcist because I never
watched a movie after that. I don't like horror
movies. So all movies. That was the one I did
for you. I like Fabian's look over here. He's
like, oh, I've got one for you guys. I've got
one for you guys. Check this out. Showgirls.
Mean girls. Mean girls. That was terrifying for
me too. Now I wear pink every Wednesday. Honestly,
when I was a child, I watched The Exorcist as
well. I was in Mexico actually when I watched
it. That was scary. So I closed my eyes half
the movie. How was the movie? It was great. It
sounded amazing. Okay, now here's the next question
worst Scary movie that you was like, why did
he even make this film? I mean, I know you said
no more for you. So you're tapped out. Yeah,
you're tapped out I know there had to be one
scary reason, you know wasn't even a scary movie.
This is an old -school movie killer clowns I'll
give you one right now. Do you have one? Maybe
The Leprechaun? Come on man give me one I Don't
know. I think like Jason it was just I just I
just feel like It's like, she meets him. It's
a bard. Yeah, it's like, it's stupid. Just, you
know, like, run. Yeah, what's going on with that?
I hear you, man. I go, worst horror movie, bro.
I'll bet you give me one right now. You know
what? I'm just going to say Paranormal Activity,
dude. I didn't really. Really? Yeah. Like, the
first one, OK, it was pretty good. It was original.
You know, it was something new. It got me. I'm
not going to lie. OK. But after that, it was
just like... Come on. Yeah, what happened? I
got you. I got you. Yeah, so where's the electric?
Worst movie I had ever seen I still remember
seeing it on the Elvira show back in the 80s
Attack of the killer tomatoes that was the weirdest
and dumbest movie It's killer tomatoes Exactly
what the title says, attack of the killer tomatoes.
There were people right in the streets and there
were little tomatoes rolling, and they would
eat each other, eat a human, it would get bigger,
and they'd get bigger. By the time the movie
was like a tomato puff, this big, rolling down
the streets just eating people. Like the blob.
That's another great movie. Only more rich in
vitamin C. It's like they squashed a needle today
and not turned into a blob. What were your thoughts
on the Blair Witch Project? I remember there
was a big hype when it first came out. They didn't
have any of those daters here. The closest to
the valley was in Corpus Christi. Right. Right.
When I... Well, you want to answer this first?
I was just going to say, frankly, in my opinion,
it was overblown. You think so? Yeah. I mean,
there was some good... moments, but overall,
I mean, it was just overblown. It wasn't anywhere
near the level of horror that they were saying,
like, oh, it's the tech, this, is it? No, it
wasn't. I mean, especially with the ending, like,
no, it was way overblown. I'm going to be really
honest with you, man. I kind of have my open
mind when it comes to movies. I'm really open
minded. I want to see what it is. I want to see
what it's about. And when I saw, I went in with
an open mind to watch Blair Witch Project. I
saw it at the theater, actually. It was, my wife
and I went in to go check it out. And we were
watching it. At first, you know, okay, couple
of college kids, they're gonna go on to, they're
going camping. They want to go look for the Blair
Witch or whatever, you know. Then you see these
sticks. I don't know what the play's going on,
man. And then all of a sudden you see the rough,
when they're in the tent, it starts ruffling,
I'm like, okay, this is not going anywhere. What's
going on? And then you see them running, and
you see the boogers come out of the girl's nose,
and they're running to the town, they find a
little tower, and they get in, then the guy's
standing in the corner, and then that's it, I'm
like. I paid seven bucks for this. I could do
the same movie. I could make the same thing.
And these guys became millionaires during this
movie. That was so crazy. And then they tried
to do a Blair Witch 2. And then the re -wagging
of Blair Witch. Oh my gosh, it was... And what
did you do? It was just garbage. It was garbage.
It was literally garbage, garbage guys. But anyways...
If I could make a recommendation since everyone
loves terrible movies here I recently learned
of a movie called rubber Now I've heard it I've
heard about believe it or not. Yes What are you
talking about? It has all the earmarks of a classic,
you know, a future classic. OK. It is about a
sentient tire. A tire that comes to life and
starts killing people. A tire. Yes, a tire. We're
talking about a car tire. It looks like a car
tire, yes. With good tread. It's not one of these
junk tires that people toss aside. It's not the
one you pick up at Pete's Tire. It's a good tire.
It's got full tread. It probably even has a warranty
on it. It has a warranty on it! Two years, two
years. Ten thousand miles more. Trying to keep
it real here, people. It calms the life, and
for tire reasons, starts killing people. That
is. You know, it's so weird I'm probably gonna
look up today I think I think the lady say, you
know what we might give her one more time Really?
Because I heard her saying like, we shouldn't
have come here. What are we still doing here?
Why are we still talking? The tour is locked.
The tour is locked. We can't leave. We can't
leave. That's right. It's a new harbor. No, guys.
First of all, we're 49 minutes in. We're coming
around close to an hour already. I don't know
if there's anything on the table you want to
let the audience know about, you know, for the
school. I mean, anything coming up that you want
to talk to us about? I always welcome anyone
that's interested in joining one of our programs.
Give us a call, stop by, get a tour of the campus,
and if we're the right fit, you know, just take
care of your registration. And if we're not,
we're still going to provide support maybe to
our sister schools or any other university or
college, but get going, do something. Right.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, for real. I'd like to
encourage everybody to follow us on social media.
We always have events that we contribute back
to the community. and we try to engage the community.
We have our trunk retreat coming up on October
30th on Thursday from four to seven, partnering
with Goodwill Industries. So if y 'all have some
items you want to go ahead and donate to Goodwill,
you don't have to drive down the road to the
neighboring town, just come to our campus. They're
going to be there collecting these items. And
come by, bring your kids. We're going to have
some Halloween costume contest, free candies,
food, good time. So come on out. Yeah, excellent.
We do have amazing faculty instructors with many
years of experience in their field. So like Ms.
Calna says, you know, we welcome anybody to come
in. We do have bring a friend day so they can
even sit inside the classroom to audit the classes,
you know, before or during the tour. So, you
know, we can we invite them to come in and check
out the classes. Same thing for career services.
You know, the team is amazing. They really go
all out trying to connect with those employers
and making sure that you know they're coming
in to give presentations to students so that
they know what what they're looking for in their
industry so they get to meet the employers and
get to talk to them and then you know they're
never left them throughout their entire process
and education all the way through employment
we're always there to support. Awesome, awesome
and one last thing if I may we have weld wars
in 2026 coming up. You know, another competition,
it's going to be great. I anticipate it being
bigger, better, more schools participating this
year. We're looking at March 28th. It's on a
Saturday. Make sure you say that to us so we
can promote it in our... Yes, most definitely.
We'd like to have you all come by, be available
during that time. Or if you guys want to come
back, you know, before that. It's a new day.
Don't answer the calls, don't answer them. All
right, I'll be the judge. I like the spinners.
The spinners work. The hydraulics, maybe. Just
for references, guys, have that actually QR code
right on the screen, guys. If you want to follow
everything that's going on in the school, click
on that QR code. It'll take you straight to them,
let you know what's going on exactly, what day,
what month, and what time. So give them, check
that out. You were talking about bring a friend
today. I suggest when you come over and you meet
Miss Scarlett Zeroffa, bring Linda Blair. She
would love to meet her. No. She doesn't know
who Linda Blair is. You know who Linda Blair
is? Okay, bring Linda Blair. No. Miss Scarlett,
that's Linda Blair. Perfect time to see you for
it. And that's when the ALC comes in. First of
all guys, I want to say thank you so much for
coming out. I know Like I said, we've seen the
show before and and and it's First time we've
had an actual school in our in our podcast It's
it's a lot of great information, especially for
me. I'm pretty sure for two also We have families
and friends that are always looking for the next
best thing to do something different, you know
and You know, we also have young ones who are
you know about the who maybe are a little lost
right now because you know they're they're thinking
pretty small you know yeah yeah exactly thinking
like well i'm just going to work at hp years
yeah i got you yeah that's fine but if you want
a real career with a real job and you know if
you want to be out there making babies and building
families and stuff. Well, you can't do that.
You're right. You're doing a neat back up. There's
nothing better than having a good career. Yeah,
good grit, strong backbone career, man. And I've
always said this to my nephews and nieces. I
mean, when you see a plumber or electrician HVAC,
these guys, yeah, they're out there working the
heat with anything. But I'll tell you something
right now. those guys will never go hungry because
there's always a job out there looking for them.
Especially here in the Valley. That's one thing
I would have loved. I could probably still do
it. I would love to see if there's an online
class or go to a class to do HMAC. HMAC has always
interested me a lot. So I would love to learn
more about that. Yeah, this information today's
podcast, if you guys are listening, either if
you're listening from New York, LA, Florida,
anywhere all over the United States, even across
the world. If you're listening right now, don't
be afraid to look them up. Get some information.
I'm pretty sure they can reach out back to you
and give you a little bit info what you need
to do or what you can to be a part of that school
or something close to what their school is like
with different options, something like that.
Don't be afraid to reach out. Yeah, reach out
for information. because that can also help you
decide what career you want to have. Exactly.
Exactly. Yeah, man. But anyways, guys, great
podcast today. Thank you once again for coming
out and having some fun with us. Any last words
you need to say? Thank you for having us here.
It's been a blast. First podcast, by the way.
First podcast. You guys, maybe it's almost over.
Anytime you want to come back, anytime you want
to talk about something or you want to bring
students in too, that'd be great. That'd be awesome
also. We would welcome them. greatly and we appreciate
you guys appreciate everything you guys are doing
for not only for the community but for the RGB
giving uh open doors to people that are you know
a tough decision when you did it's time to own
back and try to get something out of it so that
that's awesome you guys thank you so much you
guys you guys are doing great things over there
But other than that, guys, like I said, thank
you for coming out, having a little fun with
us. I know it's a little different. For other
interviews, if you've ever had anything like
that, this is just more like a laid back, you
know, next time. I mean, I swear to you, when
they walked in, I saw that while they're on business
attire, I'm wearing a flame shirt and you're
wearing a shirt that says, yeah, no. We are way
out of our league right now. Oh, did I tell you,
by the way, guys, in the ropes, We have a special
guest in January or early December. We don't
have the enclosed information yet, but we're
still working on a date to bring this gentleman
in to get interviewed. I won't let the cat out
back yet, hopefully to the middle of October,
mid -October or middle of November. But we have
a special guest coming in, RGVicon. That's all
I'm gonna say. You've known him for years. Then
why bring it up? It's not even like - It's gonna
make it two days if I drop in hits, dude. Alright?
Just shut up! Oh my god, you can never let me
have one! Can I have one up here? One! Is this
what's gonna be like when we're team driving,
dude? I don't - Oh my god! Are we there yet,
dude? Are you in a ditch? In a ditch! Charm the
podcast. It's all about this. First podcast trucker.
Well, I gave somebody an idea. Now they get wrong
with it. But anyways, guys, thank you so much
for coming out. Have fun with us, man. I hope
you enjoyed yourselves. All the crazies in here
that happens every week. This is just it's like
just sitting down, relaxing, having a glass of
wine and just talking amongst friends. And I
appreciate you guys taking the time to hang out
with us. All right. Thank you so much. Guys,
this is the podcast for tonight. Episode 263.
Wow. Yeah, man, you know what the HVAC thing
looks really good It all sounds good man. I mean
you there's a there's a lot of information. There's
a lot of possibilities Yeah, dude. Can you imagine
I went back and got you got it got my certification
for electrical certification for welding and
certification for HVAC do I could turn you into
a cyborg, dude? Anyways, guys, thank you so much
for tuning in this week. A very educational podcast
this week, man. We rarely have few. Bound to
happen. It was bound to happen. The smart ones
over there, this one's just not even there. It
just knows how to do this stuff and I don't even
know what I'm doing sometimes. Anyways. Guys,
thank you so much for tuning in this week. Next
week, we have all in one tax and everything.
I forgot the name of the company. They're our
neighbors. They're going to be in here. Next
week's in Texas. Yeah, tax next week, buddy.
And how are your taxes? I'm great. Yeah. That's
the same. But anyways, guys, thank you for tuning
in. Any last words there, Chum? I'm going to
be honest with you. I stopped listening after
someone mentioned free candy. I have no idea
what happened to the show. Same here. They have
me as an HVAC. But anyway, ladies and gentlemen,
thank you so much. Free candy? Where? Sugar.
This is why you're out. Well, you're right, you
idiot. Anyways, sign us out. And I will see you
next week, 7 .30 p .m. Thursday night. Ladies
and gents, peace out. Bye.