NTC News

Administrative Assistant Program Visits Integris

Jamil Haynes, Human Resource Director for Integris Health in Pryor, Ok recently share with the NTC Administrative Assistant/Executive Secretary class the importance of interviewing with confidence and poise. She said, “Opinions are being concluded of you from the minute you walk in the door; how you carry yourself, your posture, appearance and the first few words out of your mouth. The handshake is crucial and should always be firm. You only have a few seconds to make the first impression.” The former Labinal and Gatorade employees were given a tour of the Pryor hospital and experienced the beautiful facility designed to provide all the comforts of home during the recovery process. Employees also enjoy the luxurious work environment, while providing critical life-saving care.

Photo: Bottom Left to Right: Jessica McClelland, Anita Cook, Susan Pennington, Josie Nielsen, Laura Hamilton, Jamie Beaver, and Rachelle Hatzenbuehler.
Back Left to Right: Diane Bryant, Sandra Vaughan, Sharon Kelly, Christina Phillippe, Joyce McKinney, Carol Mustain, Stephanie Sitsler, Kent Martin-Instructor, Sabrina Horn, Jamile Haynes-Integris Human Resources Director, and Earlene Washburn-Instructor.

Northeast Technology Center’s Afton campus hosted local high school students at their annual Technology Showcase. The event was held on November 4th and 5th. Students from all of the campus’s sending school districts attended the event. Over 600 students attended the event, from schools including Ketchum, Miami, White Oak, Grove, Afton, Fairland, Bluejacket, Welch, Quapaw, Commerce, and Wyandotte. Students from Vinita attended on a separate day on November 12th. The students arrived on campus and were greeted and given an overview by NTC Student Services Director DeWayne Mead.

Then, the students were divided into small groups and taken on a tour of the campus, and were allowed to get a first-hand look at all of the available programs the Afton campus has to offer. They toured through Mr. Harlan’s Auto Collision program, and saw students working first-hand on rebuilding and collision repair on numerous cars. Then, on to Mr. Street’s Auto Service program, where students learn to repair engines, transmissions, brakes, and electrical systems on vehicles. They got a glimpse of the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics classroom located on the campus, and toured Mr. Goodpaster’s Carpentry course, where they viewed numerous projects the students had built.
From there, it was on to Mr. Ipock’s Electrical class, where the students had a sneak peek of NTC’s upcoming Christmas display at Bernice state park, which the students constructed. They likewise saw first-hand students working on a shop full of boat motors and engines, in Mr. Williams’ Marine Power Technology class.
Next, they were treated to an inside look at the Welding program in Mr. Tipton’s shop, and then saw and heard the students in Mr. Millikan’s Diesel Ttechnology program. They then viewed some of the work that Mr. Clarkson’s Masonry students had completed, before moving on to Mrs. Victor’s Occupational Domestics class and Mr. White’s Occupational Industrial class.

The students then learned about the world of Cosmetology and the employment opportunities in the field in Mrs. Carson’s class, then viewed students making all kinds of delectable food in Mrs. Perryman’s Culinary Arts course. After that, the students toured Mrs. White’s Interactive Media class where they were shown all kinds of graphic arts and video projects, then on to Mr. Morris’s Information Technology class where they viewed video games created by several of the students there. Nearing the end of the tour, students visited the Health Careers Certification classes taught by Mrs. Bryant and Mrs. DeHart, as well as the Licensed Practical Nursing program taught by Mrs. Hart and Mrs. Colby. The students then were asked to fill out a brief survey about their experience that day on the campus, and completed those surveys in exchange for an NTC t-shirt and some fresh-baked cookies. A similar Technology Showcase was held on NTC’s Kansas campus on October 22nd, and on the school’s Pryor and Claremore campuses November 10th and 11th.

Photo: Northeast Technology Center Student Services Director DeWayne Mead talks with a group of Grove students at NTC Afton’s Technology Showcase on November 5th. The Technology Showcase hosts over 600 students from the area, taking them on tours of the campus through all of the programs, and helping the students decide if they want to attend part time next year during high school.

Northeast Technology Center’s Pryor campus hosted local high school students at their annual Technology Showcase. The event was held on November 10th and 11th.
Students from all of the campus’s sending school districts attended the event. Students attended from Pryor, Claremore, Adair, Sequoyah, Verdigris, Chelsea, Locust Grove, Foyil, Salina, Chouteau, Claremore Alternative Learning, Inola, and Oologah. The students arrived on campus and were greeted and given an overview by NTC Career Advisor Becky DeLozier.

Then, the students were divided into small groups and allowed to visit the programs that most interested them, getting a first-hand look at all of the available programs the Pryor campus has to offer. They learned about all of the programs offered at NTC’s Pryor campus, including Auto Collision Repair; Auto Service Technology; Carpentry; Cosmetology; Culinary Arts; Diesel Technology; Electrical Technology; Health Careers Certification; Practical Nursing; Horticulture; Marketing; Modern Industrial Technology; Office Administration and Multimedia Technology; and Welding.

The students then were asked to fill out a brief survey about their experience that day on the campus, and completed those surveys in exchange for an NTC t-shirt.
A similar Technology Showcase was held on NTC’s Kansas campus on October 22nd, Afton campus on November 4th and 5th, and on the Claremore campus also on November 10th and 11th.

Photo: Northeast Technology Center Marketing Instructor Linda Smith talks with interested students about NTC’s Marketing and Business Management program at the Pryor campus’s Technology Showcase on November 10th. The campus held an event on November 10th and 11th, hosting hundreds of area high school students, to give them a first hand look at all of NTC’s programs available to them.

Northeast Technology Center’s Claremore campus hosted local high school students at their annual Technology Showcase. The event was held on November 10th and 11th.
Students from all of the campus’s sending school districts attended the event. Students attended from Claremore, Sequoyah, Foyil, Verdigris, Chelsea, Claremore Alternative Learning, Inola, and Oologah. The students arrived on campus and were greeted and given an overview by NTC Career Advisor Becky DeLozier.

Then, the students were divided into small groups and toured through all of the campus’s classes, getting a first-hand look at all of the available programs the Claremore campus has to offer. They learned about all of the programs offered at NTC’s Claremore campus, including Computer Aided Manufacturing; EAST (Environmental and Spatial Technology); Health Careers Certification; Practical Nursing; and Home Technology Integration.

The students then were asked to fill out a brief survey about their experience that day on the campus, and completed those surveys in exchange for an NTC t-shirt.
This was the first year the event has been held in Claremore, since this is the inaugural school year for NTC’s new Claremore campus. A similar Technology Showcase was held on NTC’s Kansas campus on October 22nd, Afton campus on November 4th and 5th, and on the Pryor campus also on November 10th and 11th.

Photo: A group of area high school students learn about robots first hand at Northeast Technology Center’s Technology Showcase on the Claremore campus. Students from eight area schools toured all of the campus’s programs on November 10th and 11th get an up-close look at the school’s programs. This group was visiting Mr. Christian’s Computer Aided Manufacturing class.

Marketing students at Northeast Technology Center’s Pryor campus were recently installed as officers for DECA for 2009-2010. DECA is an international organization of high school and college students studying marketing, management, and entrepreneurship in business, finance, hospitality, and marketing sales and service.

DECA was founded over 60 years ago, and is organized around the goal of improving the education and career opportunities for students interested in careers in marketing, management, and entrepreneurship. The organization has over 185,000 members in the United States and around the world.

The following officers were recently installed and sworn in for the NTC Pryor Campus’s DECA Chapter. This year’s President is Tosha Remington, a senior from Foyil. The Vice President is Kay Shirley, an adult student from Arnold, MO. The chapter Secretary is Jessica Strickland, and the Treasurer is Blake Virden, an adult student from Claremore.

The chapter Reporter duties will be shared by Rose Jennings, an adult student from Spavinaw, and Carol Norton, a Pryor adult student. The duties of Historian will be filled by Kylea Pruett and Kayle Delk. The Chaplain for the chapter will be Stephanie Keeling, a senior from Salina.

In addition to the installation of officers, new members were also sworn in and recited the DECA creed. Those members are Michael Cooper, Cleva Davis, Tarah Davis, Heidi Espinoza, Patsy Galcatcher, Keaton Hannah, Aimee Jackson, Tate Larry, Kiley Perry, Amos Pikington, Peter Richards, Shawn Rowan, Michael Schrembs, Devon Smith, Harry Tinsley, and LeeAnn Wright.

The NTC Pryor chapter participates in numerous service projects throughout the year. Over the past month, they have been selling suckers and donating the proceeds to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for a Cure, to fund research toward finding the cure for breast cancer.

Story and photo by Kenny Day

When Northeast Technology Center welding instructor Jeff Smith began teaching some ten years ago, the very last thing on his mind was winning a teaching award of any kind. He just wanted to be sure he kept his job.

“My first year here, I wasn’t a very good teacher. Not very good at all. In fact, I was terrible,” Smith said. “When I turned in my keys at the end of the year, I wondered what was going to happen…if I’d be back.”.

Then, a fellow instructor at NTC’s Pryor campus offered some help. Claire Scott, who was a cosmetology instructor at the campus at that time, stopped Smith in the hall and offered him some advice. She told him that if he didn’t make some changes and learn some better teaching strategies, he would lose his job. She gave him a set of video tapes produced by renowned educational strategist Harry Wong, and told him to watch them over the summer.

“She told me ‘there will be some things on here that you think are crazy and won’t work….but learn them all and do them all and it will save your job’,” Smith said.

He took her advice to heart and watched and studied the tape series all summer long. When he returned in the fall for the next school year, he was a different teacher. Smith was so appreciative of the turnaround in his teaching career, that he wrote Harry Wong a personal letter, thanking him for the impact it made on his life.

“He responded and I’ve been able to correspond with him over the years and I’ve also met him a couple of times. He also put me on the cover of the most recent edition of his book ‘,The First Days of School’,” Smith said.

He recently received another call from Harry Wong, but this one wasn’t just to check in or catch up. Wong was calling to let Smith know he had nominated him for a national Image of Welding Award for National Welding Educator of the Year. Smith was surprised to be nominated, but even more surprised to learn he had won.

“If it wasn’t for Harry Wong, I would have lost my career,” Smith said. Now, not only has he become an outstanding welding instructor, he has also received this prestigious national award.

The American Welding Society gives the Image of Welding Award for Educators who demonstrate “…exemplary dedication to promoting the image of welding in the community.” The prestigious national award will be presented to Smith on November 16th at the American Welding Society’s national convention in Chicago.

When asked why he thought he was nominated and selected to receive the award, Smith cited his record on certifying his students. “I’ve certified more students than anyone else….222 out of 223. Harry tells me not to count the one who didn’t get certified, because the student who didn’t get certified was one who didn’t finish the program.” So, out of 222 students that completed his program, 222 have received their certification. Also, 31 out of 31 students that have tested for their American Welding Society certifications have become certified as well.
This achievement is so impressive, in fact, that Wong wrote an article a few years ago called “His Students Are All Certified.” In this article, Wong notes that in Smith’s 5 year evaluation at NTC, the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education noted that Smith’s former students had the highest annual pay average for all high school graduates in the state.

“My first year here [at NTC], I walked in and told the students that if they did anything wrong, they were gone. That worked for about two weeks. Then, they figured out I couldn’t do anything,” Smith said. “I don’t expect them to do anything I don’t do myself. I clean up after myself. I treat them like an adult. If they do a good job and work hard, I do everything I can to get them a job.”

On his massive improvement in teaching strategy, Smith said, “Teaching is like math. You first learn addition and subtraction, then multiplication and division. Then you move on to fractions, algebra, then calculus. You learn in steps.” Smith has been the welding instructor at NTC’s Pryor campus for the past 10 years. He is originally from Nowata, and currently resides in Broken Arrow with his wife Cynnamon and their daughter Morgan, who is 12 years old.

Photo: Northeast Technology Center welding instructor Jeff Smith has been chosen to receive the Image of Welding Award for Educators, naming him as the top welding instructor in the nation. Smith’s students have passed the welding certification tests with a phenomenal 100% pass rate, unmatched anywhere else in the state. The award will be presented at the American Welding Society convention in Chicago on November 16th.

Story and photo by Kenny Day

Northeast Technology Center’s Kansas campus hosted local high school students at their annual Technology Showcase. The event was held on October 22nd.
Students from all of the campus’s sending school districts attended the event. Over 220 students attended the event, from schools including Jay, Colcord, Oaks, Kansas, Moseley, and Leach. The students arrived on campus and were greeted and given an overview by NTC Career Advisor Katie Buchanan.

Then, the students were taken on a tour of the campus and were allowed to get a first-hand look at all of the available programs the Kansas campus has to offer.

The tour started in Virginia Hendren’s Business Management program, where students received a first hand look at the Business Management options of study, visited the classroom, and learned about the opportunities available. They were also treated to a fun exercise by current business students, where they input their birthdates and could see how many hours they lived, how many years until they would retire, and also what celebrities shared their birthday.

They then toured the Academic Resource Center, which is a large computer lab where students spend consistent time every week sharpening and honing their academic skills.

Next, they visited the lab for both the adult Practical Nursing program and also the Health Careers program, featuring fully equipped hospital beds, monitors, and other devices, complete with mannequin patients to practice on. They moved from the lab area into Jenny Morgan’s Health Careers class, where they were able to view different types of cells under the microscope, learn about health career opportunities, and visit with current students.

The tour then lead the students to the welding program, where instructor Corey Winesburg taught them about the types of welding taught at NTC, and what career opportunities are available upon completing the program. The students also got to see numerous projects completed by current students, including multiple items created for an auction held later that evening for NTC’s scholarship foundation.

They then moved on into the second Health Careers class, taught by Rhonda King, where they learned different basic health techniques such as proper handwashing, H1N1 information, how to correctly put on and take off surgical gloves, as well as having their blood pressure, pulse, and oxygen levels tested.

Next, it was on to the electrical program, where instructor Wade Friesen discussed and demonstrated the types of things learned both on the construction side and also in industrial applications, such as robotic assembly lines. He also shared success stories about past students, and how electrical students have a unique opportunity to complete this program, then go to college and graduate with a degree debt-free.

Finally, the tour concluded in the Auto Service program, where instructor David Sampson shared a humorous but powerful example of just how important it is for everyone to have a strong fundamental knowledge of cars and car repairs, so they don’t get taken advantage of at a repair shop. He also discussed the career paths and opportunities available upon completing the program.

The students then were asked to fill out a brief survey about their experience that day on the campus, and completed those surveys in exchange for an NTC t-shirt.

A similar Technology Showcase will be held on NTC’s Afton campus on November 4th and 5th, and on the school’s Pryor and Claremore campuses November 10th and 11th.

Photo: “Northeast Technology Center Career Advisor Katie Buchanan welcomes students from Colcord to the Kansas campus’s Technology Showcase on October 22nd. Over 220 students from six area schools attended the event, and were able to tour and preview all of the campus’s programs.”