Texas wind energy firms need more technicians. Can they drum up student interest without state support? [Video]

Texas State Technical College wind energy technology instructor James Chung, center, helps Steven Vasquez, left, and Shayne Howard, right, during a class in Sweetwater on March 5. Wind energy employers from the area work closely with TSTC in shaping the curricula, so recruiters know students will develop the skills they need. Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune

“Texas wind energy firms need more technicians. Can they drum up student interest without state support?” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

Subscribe to The Y’all — a weekly dispatch about the people, places and policies defining Texas, produced by Texas Tribune journalists living in communities across the state.

SWEETWATER — Sitting in the football stadium bleachers of his West Texas high school, Steven Vasquez used to look past the flatlands and watch the …