The power of one

We often forget that each student has a different perspective and a different package of skills, expectations, and experiences. As a team we can teach them how to be students, operators, and how to find work in this industry in the short time they are with us. But if you ask a student what the most significant thing they take with them-the courses, the lectures, the equipment experience-they will tell you it’s none of those things. They will probably say it was their instructor that made the greatest impression on them.

Our instructors make the difference by sharing their passion for what they do, providing personal perspective, and giving students the opportunity and guidance to find their way. One of our students’ testimony read: “the school was more than I expected, but my instructor gave me the confidence for the first time in my life to finish what I started, and make something of myself”.

This student’s success is an example of the difference one person can make.

Winds of change

We are just 30 days away from our scheduled move into our new building (that is just 720 hours in case anyone is counting).  After visiting our new site today and seeing how far it has come along- I am somewhat ambivalent about our pending relocation.  The painters, carpenters, carpet layers and workers are such a small piece of what will be our new school.  But with every swing of their hammer and scrape of their brushes, the sounds of possibilities in our new space echoes in my head.

They represent more than a building. They are making what will become the future alma mater of an entire generation of operators.  The are creating a home for our OCC family so that we may forge ahead and become the success we know we will be.  July 6th will be nearly two years to the date of the very first week we opened our doors.  I remember our first piece of furniture, our unpainted walls, welcoming our first student and wishing him success out the door.

Change is a funny thing. It’s a testimony to all that we’ve done and whispers of what we could be.

It costs how much?

You’ve heard the phrases. “You have to spend money to make money”. “You get what you pay for”. 

These old clichés really are true for our students.  The programs at the Oklahoma College of Construcion are a new beginning for most, and the cost of attending will improve the lives of those who graduate.  Every one of our programs gives our students a foundation to their future, teaching them with hands-on training, classroom instruction, how to be a team player, as well as creating employability skills. 

Each start date I ponder over the student possibilities and ask myself: are we giving our students what they paid for?  Is this their opportunity to improve their lives and make a decent living for their families? 

I think it is.