Speaker 1: Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome.
Speaker 1: It is time now for our community connection and today
Speaker 1: we've got our friends from Tri County Tech. We have
Speaker 1: George from kimmyon with us today. How you doing, folks,
Speaker 1: Very good, doing very well, doing great well. I'll tell
Speaker 1: you what Trike County Tech. You guys don't loaf out there.
Speaker 1: You guys got everything going on sometimes all at once.
Speaker 1: First of all, want to talk about the workforce and
Speaker 1: Development months. Tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so September is officially a workforce development month. We
Speaker 2: had just finished and graduated our first b POC class
Speaker 2: that we held. They graduated on September sixth. And then
Speaker 2: they are always looking to help companies with customized trainings.
Speaker 2: We do a lot of safety training, so you can
Speaker 2: do in person, we can do online. We can even
Speaker 2: customize those trainings for your company whatever that might need,
Speaker 2: what you might need.
Speaker 1: And you know, Trick County Tech is just not for kids,
Speaker 1: although I have a daughter going there, she just loves it.
Speaker 1: But the adults with the flex programs, those are wonderful.
Speaker 2: That's right. And we've got quite a few new offerings
Speaker 2: this year that we're offering them in the modular sections
Speaker 2: so they can come in different cohorts. So for instance,
Speaker 2: our carpentry, the construction service class, we split it into
Speaker 2: four modules. So right now electricals going on. In October,
Speaker 2: HVAC starts. We have still I think about six spots
Speaker 2: left in HVAC that kicks up, so it's just a
Speaker 2: three month and then you can get trained and get out,
Speaker 2: and then after that comes up plumbing and starts in January,
Speaker 2: and then carpentry in the spring. So instead of taking
Speaker 2: the whole ten months, you can split it into four
Speaker 2: different sections. Come in and take one, get out, or
Speaker 2: keep coming and take all four.
Speaker 1: Wow. And you know, even though you're not getting into
Speaker 1: construction maybe for a vocation, this is great for anybody
Speaker 1: who ever plans on owning a home. With the simple
Speaker 1: factor you can be totally in control of your home. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can learn a lot of things. Computers are a
Speaker 1: good part of our homes these days too, as well
Speaker 1: as work, and I understand we have a computer course
Speaker 1: now available.
Speaker 2: We do. We have a lot of computer classes that
Speaker 2: are starting at We've got word Excel, Microsoft Office. We're
Speaker 2: even doing a computer skills for the workplace so all
Speaker 2: of those. If anybody's looking to enhance your computer skills
Speaker 2: or just get some computer skills so then you can
Speaker 2: get that next entry level job, go online and you
Speaker 2: can see what all there are to offer that you
Speaker 2: could get enrolled in.
Speaker 1: Well, we'll talk about the golf tournament in a moment,
Speaker 1: because I want to get George involved here. George, you've
Speaker 1: been doing this thing for more than a few minutes
Speaker 1: with the robotics out there at Tray County Tech. Tell
Speaker 1: us first of all a little bit about the program
Speaker 1: and your involvement, how you work with that.
Speaker 3: Well, the robotics program, of course is not a class
Speaker 3: as an after school program, and it's was something that
Speaker 3: was started in two thousand and seven. It's been going on.
Speaker 3: It's a national actually international program, and their teams from
Speaker 3: all over the world, and we've had, like I say,
Speaker 3: the program's been going on for eighteen years, and during
Speaker 3: the falls when we're recruiting students, and so right now
Speaker 3: we're trying to find students from all the schools that
Speaker 3: feed students at Tri County Tech, from No Water, from Dewey,
Speaker 3: from the Oklahoma Union, from Bartlesville, everywhere, and so we're
Speaker 3: out trying to find the students to participate in the program.
Speaker 1: Now I understand we have like an open house coming
Speaker 1: up on this coming.
Speaker 3: Up in a few days, right, yes, Now, on September
Speaker 3: the ninth, we're going to be having the students meet
Speaker 3: team together and uh so, uh we're trying to get
Speaker 3: them to come and find out more about the program.
Speaker 1: Yes, all I got to say is where was this
Speaker 1: when I was a kid. It wasn't around yet, that's
Speaker 1: for sure. But man, it's got to be fun to
Speaker 1: be a mentor with these youngsters. Absolutely.
Speaker 3: We have nine mentors and uh and these are believe me.
Speaker 3: Uh we have PhDs and they're excellent. And and we
Speaker 3: tell our youngsters you don't have to know anything. These
Speaker 3: gentlemen and will teach you how to uh put together
Speaker 3: the robot, design, build and work the robot. So you
Speaker 3: don't have to know anything. Come there and learn.
Speaker 1: Bring you have front, bring your curiosity, and bring your
Speaker 1: bring your desire to learn. Right. Oh wow, and good
Speaker 1: sense of fun. Yes, yes, this is great. This is outstanding.
Speaker 1: And again I'm just thinking, wow, kids, if you're thinking
Speaker 1: about it, don't don't let it pass your bike, because
Speaker 1: you kick yourself if you do. We've got the Foundation
Speaker 1: Golf tournament swing for students, and you know, I've talked
Speaker 1: to Champagne about this a couple of times. It sounds
Speaker 1: like a lot more fun than she lads on. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2: It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: Last year we raised thirty eight thousand dollars to provide
Speaker 2: scholarships for students. That provided twenty one adult scholarships for
Speaker 2: students to be able to attend Trey County that probably
Speaker 2: wouldn't have been able to come if we had not
Speaker 2: raised the fund. So this year, of course, we want
Speaker 2: to you know, surpass our goal from last year. We
Speaker 2: still have three sponsorships available. So we have a title sponsor,
Speaker 2: we have a driving range sponsor, and we have a
Speaker 2: putting green sponsor. And so with those sponsorships would include
Speaker 2: a team in the tournament as well. And I can
Speaker 2: promise you the swag bag you will not be disappointed,
Speaker 2: because we don't put together a bag that you're going
Speaker 2: to throw over in the garage when you get home.
Speaker 2: You're going to want everything in this bag. That was
Speaker 2: one of our biggest compliments last year was what an
Speaker 2: amazing swag bag we put together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it got around.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So you know, we always say golf's fun that when
Speaker 2: you're helping students, I mean, it makes it even more
Speaker 2: a blast.
Speaker 1: So at Track County Tech, one thing that Track County
Speaker 1: Tech is famous for is not saddling their students with
Speaker 1: a heavy loaded debt when they walk away, many of
Speaker 1: them walk away with the big zero, right, because it's
Speaker 1: all been taken care of by either paying through or
Speaker 1: sometimes through the foundation if you're entire need.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have ninety percent of our students qualify for
Speaker 2: assistance from the foundation. So we actually one other thing
Speaker 2: was going to mention, we have our progress report for
Speaker 2: f Y twenty four is going to be coming out
Speaker 2: this month, so be on the lookout for that. We'll
Speaker 2: have it posted on our website as well, so you
Speaker 2: can go back and look to see how phenomenon we
Speaker 2: did in FY twenty four. We keep saying it's the
Speaker 2: best year we've ever had, and then next year we'll
Speaker 2: say it's the best year we've ever had. We just
Speaker 2: keep getting better, is what George and I were talking
Speaker 2: about on the way over here. It just seems unreal,
Speaker 2: but we just keep getting better each year. So our
Speaker 2: results will be out with you know, adult graduate and
Speaker 2: average wage, how many enrollments we had as well as
Speaker 2: we have a section in there on the foundation and
Speaker 2: how much assistance was offered to our students.
Speaker 1: Getting back to the adults. So you might have a
Speaker 1: job already, but you might actually be in line for
Speaker 1: creating a pathway to get a better job. You might
Speaker 1: be underemployed and don't even know it, right, You should
Speaker 1: really check out the website. Ye be all you can be.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And by the way, track County Tech folks, they
Speaker 1: went awards like crazy, Malcolm ballbridge Ward, I think you
Speaker 1: guys own it, you know, I mean as many times
Speaker 1: as it's been given into you. And also with a
Speaker 1: lot of the things with that technology, a lot of
Speaker 1: awards there too that don't go out to just any school.
Speaker 1: It's a big deal. And the thing is, our big
Speaker 1: deal is Tricouty Tech and our big deal is right
Speaker 1: here in town.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, and one award that we get that's a little
Speaker 2: near and dear to my heart is because I serve
Speaker 2: as the CFO as well, and we have achieved a
Speaker 2: Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting for three years straight
Speaker 2: through international ASPECS.
Speaker 1: So that's a big deal.
Speaker 2: That shows that we're taking care of the taxpayer dollars
Speaker 2: and spending them appropriately, and we go through an audit
Speaker 2: and rigorous financial and that they dig in and look.
Speaker 1: So that's always.
Speaker 2: A I like to brag about that for the Finance office.
Speaker 2: The girls work hard.
Speaker 1: So George, you always seemed to hang out with winners. Absolutely, absolutely, well,
Speaker 1: this is a grade school of great people, a great
Speaker 1: you know, history as short as it may be. But boy,
Speaker 1: I can tell you what this Going into the future.
Speaker 1: It's like being on a rocket. Hang on.
Speaker 2: You never know what you might get.
Speaker 1: I want to thank you both for coming in today
Speaker 1: and being with us and sharing all this great news
Speaker 1: about right here on cable.
Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you,