Tulsa Tech aviation maintenance technicians get unique funding source for national competition
Following a lapse in corporate sponsorship, Tulsa Tech's high school aviation maintenance team was at risk of not being able to attend the 2025 MRO Americas competition after earning high honors last year.
Then the nonprofit STEAM Catapult Fund stepped in. As an education improvement granting organization, it is authorized to disperse funds to certain K-12 education programs.
These funds come from voluntary designations made by taxpayers, both private and corporate, to directly benefit causes they support, such as aerospace education.
Learn more about the funding and the Tulsa Tech team on Oklahoma CareerTech’s YouTube channel.
Northwest Tech partners to train next generation
Northwest Technology Center is partnering with MidAmerica Industrial Park and Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology to train workers for careers in manufacturing, energy and automation.
The collaborative electrical and electronics technology program gives students the chance to get hands-on experience in industrial electrical systems, electric motor controls and programmable logic control systems while also earning college credit.
Read more about it on the News On 6 website.
Central Tech takes semitruck to Broken Arrow elementary
Central Technology Center representatives recently took a full-sized semitruck to Timber Ridge Elementary School in Broken Arrow in response to letters from three students.
Students at the school learned about different careers, and three wrote letters to Central Tech Truck Driver Training Director John Thorpe expressing interest in the career, according to a Fox 23 News story. So Thorpe took a truck to the school so students could see it.
“It just kind of hit me that we don’t get to talk to the younger generation very often, because you have to be 18 to get a CDL, and I wanted to just come out and recognize him for thinking enough ahead as a 9-year-old little boy to say, ‘Hey, I may want to be a truck driver someday,” Thorpe told the news station.
Read more on the Fox 23 News website.
Gordon Cooper students volunteer at local park
SkillsUSA members at Gordon Cooper Technology Center recently cataloged commemorative bricks at Woodland Veterans Park in partnership with the Shawnee Parks Department and the Veterans Committee.
The students were part of the SkillsUSA American Spirit team. American Spirit is a SkillsUSA leadership competition in which students complete projects in patriotism and citizenship; community service; and career and technical education.
The bricks the students were cataloging were donated by community members to honor veterans. The team’s project was to create a digital catalog so park visitors could find specific bricks.
Read more on the Shawnee News-Star website.
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State Agency Assistance at a Glance
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It doesn’t matter what cards you’re dealt. It’s what you do with those cards. Never complain. Just keep pushing forward. Find a positive in anything and just fight for it. – Baker Mayfield
