Director’s Column: Workforce development a high priority in the new year
Many of you have made New Year’s resolutions to improve your fitness, finances and mental health. Some of you will see them through, and some won’t.
For state leaders, this year’s goal is to bolster a new system for workforce development and narrow the skills gap for businesses and industries in need of highly skilled workers. It’s a promise state leaders plan on seeing through in 2024 and beyond.
Oklahoma CareerTech will play a starring role in the state’s plan to overhaul the way we deliver and fund workforce development in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Workforce Commission, which was established last year with the passage of Senate Bill 621, will be developing a strategic plan for solving the state’s talent problem. Career and technology education is a solution worth tapping into.
Read more on the Oklahoma CareerTech website.
Metro Tech adds ambulance simulator to EMT program
Metro Technology Centers has added a state-of-the-art classroom ambulance simulator to train students in its emergency medical technician program.
The simulator, installed in the lab at the newly built Public Safety Academy, was funded by the 2019 community bond initiative. It resembles the body of an ambulance without the front cabin and engine.
The EMT program is in its second year in the new facility on Metro Tech’s South Bryant Campus.
Read more about the program and the simulator on Metro Tech’s website.
High Plains student receives Mike Rowe scholarship
High Plains Technology Center construction student Amanda Mead has received a Mike Rowe Work ethic Scholarship. She is a second-year adult student in the HPTC construction trades program.
Mead is one of 124 people from across the United States to receive the scholarship. As part of her application, she wrote a series of short essays about the meaning of work ethic and created a video essay explaining her personal and professional goals.
“Amanda has from day one been excited about construction. She is a hard worker and you can guarantee that her work will be flawless when complete. She puts her heart and soul into every project and the results speak for themselves,” said Pake Carlson, HPTC construction trades instructor.
ODCTE employees receive awards
Oklahoma CareerTech employees received Pinnacle Awards for exceptional work during the agency’s fall staff meeting recently.
Find out more about the employees who received awards and their work on the Oklahoma CareerTech website.
Gordon Cooper students help refurbish park
Students at Gordon Cooper Technology Center helped the city of Shawnee refurbish a totem pole in a city park.
The students researched the history of the pole, which has stood in Woodland Veterans Park since 1991, according to a story on KFOR’s website.
Read more about the students’ efforts and see a video about it on the KFOR website.
Red Carpet Film Festival casting opens
Casting has opened for short films in Moore Norman Technology Center’s Red Carpet Film Festival.
Freihofer Casting is partnering with MNTC film students and will hold virtual auditions for the seven films that will screen at the festival.
For audition information, visit the Oklahoma Film and Music website. For more information about the festival, visit the MNTC website.
Useful links
Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) at @okcareertech and find us on Facebook at OklahomaCareerTech and on Instagram at oklahomacareertech. Find our podcast at https://www.ctconversations.org/ and watch our biweekly news show and other videos on our YouTube channel.
For news about Oklahoma’s CareerTech System, subscribe to CareerTech communications.
State Agency Assistance at a Glance
National Research Center for Career and Technical Education
OK Career Guide Training Opportunities
Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it. -- Stephen Hawking
