Oklahoma CareerTech’s technology center campuses increased by one Thursday, when the State Board of Career and Technology Education approved a new campus for Gordon Cooper Technology Center.
GCTC is expanding its aviation maintenance technology program and adding a fifth instructor, which allows the aviation maintenance site to be considered a full campus by the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education. Oklahoma CareerTech now has 63 technology center campuses.
The new instructor will teach in the high school program, allowing GCTC to add a second high school class, Superintendent Julie McCormick told the board. Forty-six high school students are enrolled, in addition to adult students, she said.
“The last two years, we’ve turned away some eligible applicants because of meeting capacity with only a single high school instructor so we feel the need to expand and grow,” she said.
The three other instructors teach adult students.
GCTC houses its aviation maintenance technology program – both secondary and postsecondary -- at Shawnee Regional Airport. The program is certified and approved by the Federal Aviation Administration for airframe and powerplant training. The new instructor will be part of a second high school class that will begin in the fall.
Aviation maintenance technicians work on electrical and hydraulic systems, reciprocating and turbine engine systems, propellers and fuel systems and repair both sheet metal and composite structures.
High school students study for two years, finishing with the general maintenance test, which is required for the program, McCormick said. They can then enroll in airframe and powerplant training as adult students, she said.
Oklahoma has a need for more aerospace maintenance workers, Oklahoma CareerTech State Director Brent Haken said.
“American Airlines has made a large commitment to grow, Tinker has made a large commitment to grow and expand their campus, and then we have many other businesses in the state that are continuing to come to the area, so aerospace is one of the areas we have to continue to grow to serve,” he said. “We had an estimate a couple of months ago that we were going to be – by next year – 400 maintenance technicians short across the state.”
McCormick added that high school students graduating from the general maintenance program can go to work immediately, sometimes making $25 to $27 an hour. Others continue their education at a university, she said; Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee has added mechanical, electrical and aerospace engineering programs.
The board’s action to approve the site as an official campus means that it is eligible for state funding, Haken said.
It also means that if something happens to close GCTC’s main campus, such as a recent water line break, McCormick said, the aviation campus can continue operations.
Oklahoma CareerTech: Oklahoma’s Workforce Leader
The Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education provides leadership and resources and assures standards of excellence for a comprehensive statewide system of career and technology education. The system offers programs and services in 29 technology center districts operating on 63 campuses, 395 PK-12 school districts, 16 Skills Centers campuses that include three juvenile facilities and 32 adult education and family literacy providers.
The agency is governed by the State Board of Career and Technology Education and works closely with the State Department of Education and the State Regents for Higher Education to provide a seamless educational system for all Oklahomans.
