Todd Hendrickson, an instructor at Moore Norman Technology Center, recently received the Outstanding Instructor award from the Oklahoma Career and Technical Education Equity Council.
Hendrickson was one of 15 Oklahomans honored, along with three businesses and organizations, at the 30th annual Making It Work Day at the Capitol on March 6.
Making It Work Day recognizes individuals who are committed to removing barriers to success for single-parent families by providing educational experiences for students beyond the classroom. The ceremony, which was held at The Credit Union House of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, also recognized nontraditional students.
Hendrickson teaches cloud and virtual networking administration at MNTC. He had a HIRE student in his program last year and worked with her during the summer -- even loaning her a book -- so she would be ready when school started, said Matt Fix, HIRE program coordinator, who nominated Hendrickson for the award.
“During the year, he did a fantastic job in communicating with our student and HIRE staff to let us know of any challenges and/or issues that were going on so we could immediately provide the resources and assistance we needed to in order to help our student be successful,” Fix said.
Hendrickson also worked with the student to set up internships and discussed pros and cons of positions she was offered with the student and the HIRE coordinator, Fix said.
“Todd does a great job of working with all of his students to help them master the information and learn the skills they will need in order to be successful in their field,” he said.
OkCTEEC is affiliated with the administrative division of the Oklahoma Association of Career and Technology Education. The council advocates for students pursuing nontraditional careers and for resources for educating single parents.
“Making It Work Day is one of my favorite award ceremonies, as it allows for those graduates, community partners and instructors who have excelled to be recognized for their hard work,” said KayTee Niquette, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families coordinator at Oklahoma CareerTech. “It is an event that is traditionally held at Oklahoma’s state Capitol, but regardless of location, our awardees are allowed to shine.
“Listening to the stories of many who accept their awards is nothing but inspirational, and OkCTEEC is very excited to host this event once again, so that special projects programs with both the Oklahoma Department of Career and Education Technology and Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education might be highlighted.”
She serves as an adviser for OkCTEEC, along with Jennifer Bielli of Oklahoma Human Services and Gina McPherson of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.
“On behalf of OkCTEEC we are very excited to celebrate another year of Making It Work Day,” said Robin Shambaugh, OkCTEEC president and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College Journey 2 Success Delaware County coordinator. “It is our privilege to honor and recognize our outstanding graduates, instructors and business and industry partners along with our community and agency partners across the state of Oklahoma. We would like to congratulate our students and partners for their determination, hard work and dedication this year.”
OkCTEEC’s purposes include promoting and supporting career and technology education, increasing its effectiveness, promoting research in the field and in educational equity, developing leadership and advocating for equity and diversity.
For more information about OkCTEEC, visit https://www.cteec.org/okcteec. For more information about the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education, visit www.okcareertech.org.
