Director's Weekly Memo 2019-10-21

Celebrate Careers in Construction Month

Oklahoma is facing a growing skills gap, which includes craftsmen in the construction industry. Follow the link to see a short video about the need.

Putnam City Schools CareerTech educator developing workforce through video games

Putnam City West High School teacher Jeffrey Bishop is teaching his students how to create video games during class and how to strategize during after school esports sessions.

Bishop, who teaches in the school’s CareerTech science, technology, engineering and math program, is also the coach of Putnam City West’s esports team. One of his goals is to teach a class in which students develop games to show to companies, he told KFOR in Oklahoma City.

KFOR story

Meridian Technology Center breaks ground for Guthrie campus

A line of people all wearing hard hats and holding shovels in the ground for Meridian Technology Center's groundbreaking ceremony in Guthrie.

Meridian Technology Center broke ground this week for a 42,520-square-foot campus in Guthrie.

The facility will include space for short personal and professional development courses and business and industry training. It will also house the Logan County Economic Development Council and space for entrepreneurs to grow new businesses.

The campus will have six classrooms, a medical skills classroom and lab, a computer lab, eight offices for residential incubator tenants and four exhibit halls available for community use.

CareerTech Champion: Henniges Automotive – Great Plains Technology Center

: Lana Anderson lectures to Intro to Manufacturing class at Henniges Automotive.

THEN: In the tiny town of Frederick, Oklahoma, Henniges Automotive manufactures parts for companies like GM, Ford and BMW. It’s a thriving company that has been around for four decades. With only 4,000 people living in the blue collar community, however, it has been tough to find enough qualified employees to keep up with the company’s growth.

Henniges recently formed a partnership with Great Plains Technology Center, and together they created an Intro to Manufacturing class that is offered several times a year. Great Plains hosts the class, as well as

Helping recruit new students.
Providing an instructor for six hours of safety training.
Providing teaching assistance for the certification instructor (who had no previous classroom experience).

Working with Great Plains, the novice certification instructor was able to build a class schedule, create a syllabus and make a smooth transition into teaching.

NOW: The manufacturing class has helped Henniges reduce both turnover and absenteeism. Having employees who pay for the six-week certification class shows their commitment to the job. It also increases the employees’ knowledge once they’re hired.