Virtual OEIP event focuses on cosmetology
The Oklahoma Education and Industry Partnerships event this month will focus on careers in cosmetology.
Oklahoma CareerTech is partnering with cosmetology industry experts so attendees can learn more about careers in the cosmetology industry.
The event will be from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Sept. 21.
Film contest honors veterans
Oklahoma CareerTech and the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame are offering a student competition to document Oklahoma veterans’ service in short films.
Students will work with veterans to film their military stories for entry in the Oklahoma Veterans Film Competition. OKMHF will award cash prizes to the top three videos in secondary and postsecondary categories.
More information can be found on the Oklahoma Honors Campaigns website.
CareerTech Champion: Kaydee Clark – Tulsa Technology Center and HOSA
THEN: One of three latchkey siblings with a single mom who worked two jobs to pay the bills. While her mother struggled to take care of the family and put food on the table, Kaydee Clark said, she was fighting battles of her own. Plagued with multiple health issues, she was in and out of health care facilities throughout high school.
Even though Clark’s mother worked hard, she couldn’t come up with college money for Clark or her siblings. Her brother and sister joined the military, but Kaydee needed to find a career. One of her mother’s jobs was medical assisting, and Clark’s health care experiences had made her realize she, too, had a passion for helping others.
Like mother, like daughter -- the high school senior enrolled in Tulsa Technology Center’s medical assisting program. She joined HOSA, the CareerTech student organization affiliated with health careers education. HOSA and Tulsa Tech helped Clark
- Develop the ability to prioritize and become organized.
- Pass the board exams for medical assisting and phlebotomy.
- Learn leadership skills and the value of teamwork.
- Improve her communication and problem-solving skills.
- Develop a strong work ethic and resiliency.
Clark watched her mom work hard to get ahead, advancing to vice president of a popular health insurance organization. Clark had the same strong work ethic, and in 2004, she graduated from Tulsa Tech and began working as a medical assistant. She met her future husband at an urgent care center, where he was a patient.
After Clark became pregnant with their third child, she made a career change, accepting a grant-funded teaching job at her alma mater. After that job ended, she was offered a full-time teaching job with Tulsa Tech’s high school medical assisting program, the same program she sat in as a high school senior. It was that program that helped her get a job, and it was that job that gave her the resources to continue her education.
“I would not have been able to attend college later in life if I hadn’t learned a trade,” she said. “CareerTech equipped me with the ability to work and make money to support myself and my family.”
NOW: A member of the Oklahoma State University President’s Leadership Society, working toward a degree in psychology and school counseling and maintaining a 4.0 GPA. Clark said she’s never leaving CareerTech.
“Even if I became a doctor,” she said, “my clinic would be staffed with Tulsa Tech students.”
Useful links
Follow us on Twitter at @okcareertech and find us on Facebook at OklahomaCareerTech and on Instagram at oklahomacareertech and read our blog, Oklahoma CareerTech Delivers. Find our podcast at https://www.cthorizon.org/.
For news about Oklahoma’s CareerTech System, subscribe to CareerTech communications.
Practice every time you get a chance. -- Bill Monroe
