Student Experience: Jared Mercantel

“I wanted to start my own apartment renovation business with a friend and thought, well, I’ll need a license, and I might as well go to school and get my associate degree too. Now I’m even thinking of going on to get a bachelor’s degree in business. I can keep working on my electrical and plumbers licenses, but if I want to be my own boss, I’m going to have to know about the business end of things too.

“I’ve learned a lot of math that I need. The electrical theory class with Tom Hoops has a lot of math too — you have to be able to figure out how many amps and how much voltage you’ll need to do the job. It really teaches you how to be a project manager and figure out what you need for every job. It shocked me to find out how much voltage it takes to run a commercial building.

“If you go into this field, you’ll learn more than you think. Even if you don’t go into it as a career, it’s always useful knowledge for a homeowner to have.”

Jared Mercantel is a full-time student working on an associate degree in Electrical Technology at North Lake.


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Abdul Jebbar Ali

Abdul Jebbar Ali

Map Specialist Federal Flood Certification Corp./First Horizon Home Corp.
“In my current job as a map specialist, I process a request from clients for flood determination on their property. Someday, I would like to combine my job skills in engineering, construction and CADD, added to the new geospatial technology skills I’m developing.”
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Technology
Leonardo Figueroa

Leonardo Figueroa

Pipefitter Refrigeration Design Technology
“The program was excellent, and I learned a lot. For instance, I had absolutely no knowledge of electrical systems, and now I feel pretty comfortable with them. My instructors really pushed me. It’s a program I’ve already recommended to several people.”
Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Technology
Vassil Doudov

Vassil Doudov

Coordinator, Client Relationship Management at Dallas College
“I recently completed the USI Dallas College Drone Workshop and gained valuable hands-on experience in just a few days. Mr. Hill’s expertise and passion made the training especially impactful.”
Drone Technology
Theresa Tennyson-Young

Theresa Tennyson-Young

Senior Inventory Analyst Cummins Southern Plains, LLC
“My Logistics classes have given me new ideas on ways to handle things at work. And the convenience of the online courses lets me fit school around my work schedule, which isn’t always easy, but definitely worth the effort.”
Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Jared Mercantel
Jared Mercantel
Electrical Technology Student

Electrical Technology
School of Manufacturing and Industrial Technology
Updated October 7, 2026