From law to lathes, TSTC student leads with actions

(HUTTO, Texas) - When her husband went on a road trip to Ohio to buy a new lathe for his hobby shop, Stephanie Albrecht did not expect him to come home having made the couple the new owners of a lathe supply and service company.

"The owner was retiring, and they were going to shut down the company," Albrecht said. "The company has been around since 1909. It's the last American-made lathe company. To keep the legacy going, we bought it."

Albrecht had considered herself semiretired when her husband called about buying the company. Now she is a full-time student about to start her third semester in the Precision Machining Technology program at Texas State Technical College's East Williamson County campus.

"I had no idea what the back of the house was doing with the machine company," Albrecht said. "I knew some, but not enough to be a good partner to help my husband keep this (company) going."

Albrecht and her husband, who live in Georgetown, are native Minnesotans. They have spent their 34 years together as entrepreneurial partners as well. Albrecht earned an associate degree in paralegal studies in the early 1990s and applied those skills to a real estate business with her husband.

"I had been part of a mass layoff from a job, and a benefit they offered was to pay for education to get a new job, so I became a paralegal," Albrecht said. "I was well-versed in contract law and handled all of the contracts for our real estate business for years."

Albrecht is eager to understand what her machinists do at the lathe company.

"I would never tell someone to do something I wouldn't do," she said. "Someone told me I have employees so I don't have to do this. But no, I'm doing this because I have those employees."

Joe Mesa III is Albrecht's Precision Machining instructor at TSTC.

"Steph comes here, and it isn't about a grade with her," he said. "She really just wants to learn. She asks a lot of questions."

Albrecht hopes the lathe company, in which her oldest son is already involved, becomes a family business. Until then, she plans to keep learning.

"On top of getting my certificate 2, I'm extending to take extra classes and a fourth semester," Albrecht said.

TSTC offers an Associate of Applied Science degree in Precision Machining Technology, and certificates of completion in CNC Machine Operator and in Precision Machining Technology. The program is available at the East Williamson County, Fort Bend County, Harlingen, Marshall, North Texas and Waco campuses. It is part of TSTC's Money-Back Guarantee, which refunds a participating graduate's tuition if he or she has not found a job in their field within six months after graduation.

Registration continues for the fall semester at TSTC. For more information, go to tstc.edu.

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