Six inducted into Oklahoma CareerTech Hall of Fame
The Oklahoma CareerTech Foundation inducted six people into the Oklahoma Career and Technology Education Hall of Fame on Thursday evening.
This year’s inductees are Kent Boggs, Carolyn Cotton, Nancy Randolph Davis, Bob Funk, Phil Waul and Greg Winters.
“Oklahoma is well known for having the best CareerTech System in the nation, and the six people we are honoring tonight played starring roles in the state’s journey to becoming the best in career and technical education,” said Lee Denney, Oklahoma CareerTech interim state director.
Read more on the Oklahoma CareerTech website.
CareerTech breaking down silos
While silos are great for storing grain on the farm, they’re not so good for education.
In the business world, the silo mentality is described as a reluctance to share information or knowledge across different divisions within a company. Such attitudes reduce efficiency, lower morale, disrupt work flows and weaken the corporate culture. It’s a byproduct of competition between senior managers that is passed on to their employees.
The same is true in education as administrators often avoid sharing or collaborating with colleagues in different systems. Silos pit district against district, school against school and department against department. As a result, resources are wasted, productivity declines and achievement wanes.
Read more about how CareerTech breaks down silos in Interim State Director Lee Denney’s column on The Journal Record’s website.
Aerospace webinar planned
Join Oklahoma CareerTech for an aerospace webinar hosted by The Journal Record at 11:30 a.m. Thursday.
“Clear for Takeoff: Get trained in Oklahoma aerospace” will feature Eddie Compton, aerospace and defense industry liaison, Oklahoma CareerTech; Ryan Goertzen, vice president, maintenance workforce development, AAR Corp.; and Geoffrey Camp, Oklahoma state director, aerospace and defense. They will discuss the demand for skilled workers in Oklahoma aerospace and pathways to enter the workforce.
CareerTech Champion: Garrett Hall - Central Technology Center, FFA and SkillsUSA
Garrett Hall suffered a stroke when he was 16 years old. The Cushing High School student, who had been active in football, wrestling, track, band and FFA, was suddenly faced with building a future much different than the one he and his parents had envisioned.
Both of Hall’s parents were graduates of Meridian Technology Center, and his mother had worked in the CareerTech System since Hall was in elementary school. It was her CareerTech connections (and his father’s advice) that helped him create a new and improved plan for his future.
“My father would always tell me to get into a trade everyone needed, so I would never be out of work and I’d always be able to provide for a family,” Hall said.
His mother introduced him to Robert Neil, electrical trades instructor at Central Technology Center. After a conversation about the program and the wide range of career opportunities in electrical trades, Hall enrolled. He attended Central Tech his junior and senior years of high school and added SkillsUSA to his list of extracurricular activities.
With Neil as his mentor, Hall developed a new skill set. Through FFA and SkillsUSA, he improved his communication skills and learned how to work as part of a team, skills he would use throughout his life.
“My teamwork skills taught me that certain people might be better suited for other tasks, and I should let them take the lead on those parts rather than taking on the whole project myself,” he said.
In FFA, Hall competed at the state and national level on ag science, electrical shop and skeet shooting teams. His teams won several state medals, and he and another student even teamed up to earn a gold medal at the national FFA competition. He also competed at the state SkillsUSA contest.
Neil taught him basic electrical safety, and Hall received OSHA 30 certification. He also spent much of his class time learning how to troubleshoot and solve problems.
“I learned to break down the issue and find out what is causing the problem so I can fix it,” he said. “This skill has helped me tremendously.”
The Cushing teenager has made the most of a tragic situation. In 2010, he was named Central Tech Student of the Year, and after high school, he earned his associate degree from Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology, graduating magna cum laude.
Hall worked as a heavy commercial/industrial electrician in Texas until, once again, his mentor changed the trajectory of his life. Neil recruited Hall to teach in the electrical controls program at Tulsa Technology Center. In addition to teaching, Hall is working on a bachelor’s degree at OSU-IT and plans to follow that with a master’s degree, ultimately moving into an administrative position.
“Being able to attend CareerTech and learn electrical trades gave me hope in my recovery and life,” he said.
Red River Tech plans second annual career expo
Red River Technology Center in Duncan will host its second annual job fair and career expo on April 21.
RRTC’s full-time students will be able to attend the fair throughout the day, and it will also be open to the job seekers in the general public this year.
Read more about it on The Duncan Banner’s website.
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.
State Agency Assistance at a Glance
National Center for Research in Career and Technical Education
OK Career Guide Training Opportunities
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