NTC News

Northeast Technology Center’s Pryor Campus Hosts over 1,000 Area Kids for Safe Trick-or-Treat Event

Hundreds of children, wearing costumes of all shapes and sizes, attended Northeast Northeast Technology Center’s Annual Munchkins on Campus event, held on Friday, October 30th. The attendance was estimated between 1,000-1,300 little ones.

The event was a safe trick-or-treat event, for children birth through elementary school ages. Children were encouraged to wear their costumes, and they didn’t disappoint. Costumes of all shapes and sizes were walking through the campus on Friday, with sightings of Spiderman, Iron Man, cowboys, princesses, chearleaders, and more

Inola Schools sent the largest contingent of kids, with ten bus loads attending the event.

The annual event is free and open to the public. There was a morning session and also an afternoon session.

The kids were treated to decorated classrooms throughout the campus, faculty and staff greeting them in costume, and candy at every turn. The Modern Industrial Technology class constructed an actual haunted house, where the kids walked through to get some scares, while the Carpentry class built numerous games for the kids to play. The health careers and certification classes and instructors had fun with decorating their rooms, with skeletons and other Halloween decorations. All of the campus’s programs were involved, and had fun with this community event.

Photo: “Northeast Technology Center’s Pryor Campus hosted the annual event Munchkins on Campus on Friday, October 30th. The event was a safe and fun trick or treat event for children birth through grade school. Over 1,000 children attended this year’s event.”

Executive Secretary, Administrative Assistant students visit Bit By Bit

Executive Secretary, Administrative Assistant students at NTC recently toured the new facility of Bit By Bit Therapeutic Riding program and met the new Director, Jennifer England and full time instructor, Elizabeth Capalbo. Students learned the importance of finding a career that is their passion so that they always love going to work as demonstrated by Cpalbo and England. With equestrian hobbies and a love for teaching, they were able to combine the two special talents for the “dream of a lifetime” career.

Networking is another best practice that made their success story possible. Having business associates and friends in the industry helped them to locate and successfully earn the jobs.
Bit by Bit offers therapeutic riding to children and adults of emotional, physical, and traumatized individuals. The non-profit operation is a service of Rogers State University to the community and provides life-changing therapy. The state-of-the-art facility is a product of the original founder, Linda Barron and the result of a community fund raiser, including the donation of the land by a kind and generous donor.

Photo: Left to right: Earlene Washburn-Instructor, Sharon Kelly, Jennifer England-BBB Director, Jessica McCleland, Christina Phillippe, Sandra Vaughan, and Laura Hamilton, seated.

Rogers County Partners with NTC, Hires Student for GIS Project

When Northeast Technology Center student David Barnoski started classes this fall, he hoped that through his training at NTC, he would eventually find a job and launch his career. He just didn’t know how quickly that would happen. David, a Claremore resident, enrolled at NTC’s Claremore campus and began in August in the school’s EAST program. The EAST program is part of the EAST initiative – Environmental And Spatial Technology – which is a project-driven approach to learning. This year marks the first year of the EAST program at NTC.

EAST focuses on student-driven service projects through the use of the latest in technology. EAST schools such as NTC are equipped with classrooms containing state-of-the-art workstations, servers, software, and accessories, including GPS/GIS mapping tools, architectural and Computer Aided Design software, 3D animation suites, and much more. The course facilitator then helps students find problems in their local communities, and then learn to use these tools to solve them.

Back in January of this year, NTC Claremore Campus Director Rick Reimer approached Rogers County to find someone in the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) field to serve on the advisory board for the EAST program. Brett Williston, the IT Director for the county, volunteered to serve and a partnership was formed.
As the months went by, the EAST instructor, Brook Easton, approached Brett Williston asking him for projects that the students could work on. He offered for the students to work on the GIS mapping project constructing the Assessor Parcel Layer through GIS mapping technology. The Assessor Parcel Layer clearly defines the property ownership boundaries on all parcels of land within the county.

Three students from the EAST class at NTC began working on this project one day each week as part of their studies. One of these students was David Barnoski, from Claremore, along with Kathy Toone from Adair and Brian McClelland from Adair.

All three students began doing excellent work on the project. Barnoski, however, showed an immediate affinity for the technology, and picked up the GIS mapping software extremely quickly. So quickly, in fact, that Brett Williston decided to take a bold step.

He contacted NTC, and told both Rick Reimer and Brook Easton he would like to offer David a job. This would mean David couldn’t finish his studies at NTC, but was already able to start a career in an excellent position in a field he was enjoying. The staff at NTC encouraged him and supported him, and David took the position full time with the county.
“David asked me what I thought he should do,” said Reimer. “As we talked about the job, what it paid, and what the future looked like for him, I told him I thought he should take the job. You know, our goal here is to help our students launch their careers and get great jobs, it just happened a little ahead of schedule this time,” Reimer joked.
“David is a great asset to us,” says Rogers County IT Director Brett Williston. “I’ve been in this business since 1993, and I’ve never seen anyone pick it up this fast before.”
Brett was not only impressed with David’s aptitude on the GIS software, but said he was also very impressed with how polite and respectful David is.
Williston says that the partnership with NTC has been invaluable for him, in creating a win-win for both the county and also the students. It gives the county extra resources to apply to projects, while giving the students hands on experience they can’t get anywhere else.

“I’ve always been very passionate about my career, and I’ve enjoyed this as much as they [the students] have,” says Williston. “These kids are getting more hands on experience than I got before my last year of college.”

“I believe one of the strengths of NTC is the hands on and interactive learning,” Williston said. “As a business, when we need somebody else, I’m going to NTC.”
Barnoski said what he loves most about the job is “….that it’s computer based. It’s like a puzzle with all of these pieces. It’s a great challenge. Everyone is outgoing and treats me respectfully. It’s exciting to be a pioneer in a field that is progressing.”

The future job outlook is bright for Barnoski and other students following in his footsteps. More and more companies are hiring GIS professionals and the demand for trained GIS pros will continue to rise.

Barnoski is very grateful for this opportunity and cited the tremendous support he received from multiple staff members at NTC, including Brook Easton, Rick Reimer, and also instructor Ron Stearns. Due to some conflicts with financial aid requirements, Barnoski had to switch courses from the EAST program to Ron Stearns’ Home Technology Integration course after school started, yet his new instructor worked with him and allowed him to continue coming to the courthouse one day each week to work with the county project, even though he was no longer in the EAST program.

Aside from the win-win aspect this partnership is bringing for Rogers County and NTC and its students, this likewise is creating a great winning situation for the public at large. Students are able to learn and work on public projects, which helps them learn a trade and career, while also helping to complete those public projects sooner than they otherwise could be completed.

In the future, the county also plans to use NTC student assistance from the EAST program to work on the 911 addressing layer, where students will go out into the field and map GPS coordinates for houses, driveways, fire hydrants, etc. This will greatly improve public safety as it will cut down on response times for police, fire, and ambulance responses.
EAST facilitator Brook Easton said, “I am very proud of David and excited about the opportunity Rogers County has given him. He is creating a stable career path for himself for years to come. He is very deserving of this opportunity.”

Northeast Technology Foundation Hosts Dinner

Northeast Technology Foundation, an educational foundation providing scholarships and assistance to students of Northeast Technology Center, hosted a recognition dinner in honor of John and Penny Williams on Monday, September 28th, at 6:00pm. The event was held in the Centennial Center Grand Ballroom at Rogers State University.

Congressman Dan Boren delivered the keynote speech to the audience. He spoke about the resiliency of America, how America is on its way back from the global economic crisis, and how technology centers such as NTC play a vital and crucial role in the rebuilding of our economy. He discussed how the training NTC provides helps give businesses access to a highly skilled, ready-to-work workforce, while likewise helping the workforce be trained and employable for new opportunities.

He also discussed how the flexibility of technology centers helps respond to economic needs all over Oklahoma, such as when a business shuts down and displaced workers need new training, etc. He closed by thanking John and Penny Williams for their dedication and contributions to NTC.

Northeast Technology Foundation President Craig Hendrickson then addressed the crowd and presented John and Penny Williams with an award of special recognition for their contributions to NTC. John and Penny have continually been involved in the growth of the Claremore Community, and because of their generosity and assistance, NTC secured an excellent location on north Highway 88 for the addition of its fourth campus in Claremore, which opened full time in August.

Mr. Williams founded the John Williams Company in 1969 primarily as a residential real estate company. He has provided real estate brokerage advisory services to a diversified group of private and public companies and entities including the Port of Catoosa, Claremore Public Schools, the City of Claremore, and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, as well as numerous property owners, developers, banks, and corporate clients for over 40 years. Today, the John D. Williams Company is involved in marketing, development, construction, and consulting for numerous clients.

Upon receiving the award, Mr. Williams took time to thank the audience, thank numerous guests who made a difference in his life, and also reflected on his life and how opportunities came along that were unexpected, yet led him to his career in real estate.

Proceeds raised from the event will provide scholarships for students of Northeast Technology Center. Over $100,000 in scholarships have been awarded to students of NTC since the formation of the Foundation in 1998. Nearly 98% of all revenue is applied to scholarships for students.

Northeast Technology Center Students Fare Well at the State Fair Sugar Art Show

Students from the Culinary Arts program at Northeast Technology Center’s Pryor Campus made a strong showing at the annual Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show at the Tulsa State Fair.
Chelsea junior Lacy Richardson paired with Pryor senior Hayden Hutton to place 1st in the Special Techniques division. The two created a winter scene with snowy trees and a snowy cottage with a royal icing filigree.

Hailie Hendrickson, a senior from Claremore, along with Mollee Schaller, a senior from Salina, took 2nd place in the Novelty Cakes division with a Princess and the Frog themed three-dimensional cake.
Makayla Morrison, a junior from Claremore, took 3rd place in the Novelty Cakes division with a Cookie Monster cake – a three-dimensional cookie monster complete with the cookie jar and cookies. Cheyann Pomraning, an adult student from Claremore, also entered the Novelty Cake division with a two-layered heart cake with pink icing and white decorated borders.
Salina junior Tiffany Luper paired with Inola senior Ashley Moore to enter a Ghost and Jack-o-Lantern cake in the Teen Novelty division. Tiffany and Ashley then also teamed with Adair junior Addy Thao to take 3rd place in the Wedding – Tiered division.

Elizabeth Hagar of Pryor entered the Adult Beginner category with a beautiful carousel horse cake with flowing pink icing hair on the horse’s mane. Michael Morgan, an adult student from Chelsea, teamed with Claremore adult student Cory Nolan to enter the Adult Beginner division with a Fish Underwater cake.

Tara Hawkins, Adair junior, and Dixie Gann, Salina senior, placed 2nd in the Teen division for a three-tiered white cake on a stand, with hearts and floral icing border on each tier. Claremore adult student Manda Sweet teamed with Locust Grove senior Samantha Chamberlain to enter a three dimensional deer cake in the Adult Beginner category.

Photo: Just a Spoonful of Sugar – Northeast Technology Center students Lacy Richardson (left), a junior from Chelsea, and Pryor senior Hayden Hutton (right) took 1st place in the Special Techniques division at the Tulsa State Fair Sugar Art Show. The two created a winter scene with snowy trees and a snowy cottage with a royal icing filigree. Overall, 16 culinary arts students from NTC competed at the Tulsa State Fair.