Speaker 1: Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome.
Speaker 1: It's time now for our community connection right here on
Speaker 1: K one, the one you dress and we have our
Speaker 1: friends in from Dry County Tech and doctor Tammy Stroubele
Speaker 1: and the award winning George Hockey. Its how are we doing,
Speaker 1: guys and Gal?
Speaker 2: Wonderful, fantastic.
Speaker 1: Now Jordan blushing already, he got a big hundred.
Speaker 2: He did, he did.
Speaker 3: This past weekend, we had the opportunity, along with our
Speaker 3: other school board members, to attend the Oklahoma State school
Speaker 3: Boards Association and George was honored with the overall Oklahoma
Speaker 3: State school Board.
Speaker 2: So he's on he's on that board.
Speaker 3: Now. Out of twenty five hundred school board members in
Speaker 3: the state of Oklahoma, only five were chosen and George
Speaker 3: was one of those. Now, George didn't know he was
Speaker 3: being nominated for the award. You know, he is technically
Speaker 3: my boss, but he doesn't know everything that goes on
Speaker 3: at Trick County and so we kept it a secret
Speaker 3: and nominated and nominated him, and so it was a
Speaker 3: great It was a great surprise. I think it was
Speaker 3: a great surprise. Do you think it was a great surprise?
Speaker 1: Yes, it was.
Speaker 4: I'm truly honored to believe me, and it's been a
Speaker 4: blessing to be on the board of Tri County Tech.
Speaker 4: I've totally enjoyed it for the last twenty years and
Speaker 4: it has been an honored you know. I think one
Speaker 4: of the things I have to say is, you know,
Speaker 4: the state of Oklahoma when they put together the career
Speaker 4: tech system, they did it right, they did.
Speaker 1: I have to tell you this.
Speaker 4: You know, we've got the best career tech system in
Speaker 4: the whole nation. And I am blessed to be on
Speaker 4: the board here.
Speaker 1: I would agree. I would agree I've never seen anything
Speaker 1: like it work as well as it does in any community. Doctor.
Speaker 1: Hats off to you, the board.
Speaker 2: And every absolutely well.
Speaker 3: George is our board president, so you know, he is
Speaker 3: the leader of the best of the best. So it's
Speaker 3: just he is just an outstanding mentor and I'm just
Speaker 3: blessed to have him be able to help us and
Speaker 3: help point Tray County Tech in the right direction.
Speaker 1: So how big of a surprise was the surprise, George.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, of course, by you know, at that
Speaker 4: point in time, I knew, you know that I was
Speaker 4: going to be honored then, but you know, when when
Speaker 4: Tammy told me that I was going to win the award,
Speaker 4: that was a surprise that, you know, and like I say,
Speaker 4: I feel blessed to and you know, to consider that,
Speaker 4: you know, in the state, I think there are other
Speaker 4: people certainly more probably capable in me. But I'll accept
Speaker 4: it and go forward. And that's the way I think
Speaker 4: about it.
Speaker 1: How did you get involved in probotics of all things? Well,
Speaker 1: I got to ask what happens that way?
Speaker 4: Yeah, And you know, this was twenty actually twenty one
Speaker 4: years ago that the program was started, and Anita Reisner
Speaker 4: was the superintendent and she took a leap of faith
Speaker 4: to start the program because actually Jim Bonzac, who's passed away,
Speaker 4: wanted to start a program his children who were in Florida.
Speaker 4: They were involved and said, why doesn't Bartlesville have a program?
Speaker 4: I was trying to get one started here and talked
Speaker 4: to Anita and at that time was the trick County
Speaker 4: was starting a pre engineering program, so it said, well
Speaker 4: why not have a robotics program? So looking around to
Speaker 4: find someone to be involved, and I was on the
Speaker 4: board and they and they said, well, you're an engineer,
Speaker 4: why don't you get involved? And Unfortunately, we had some
Speaker 4: other mentors around Nelson stateon and Dave Register, Don Lawfer
Speaker 4: and some Yeah. An All Star team there, yeah, oh
Speaker 4: yeah it was. It was beautiful. In the very first year,
Speaker 4: the team won Rookie All Star got to go to
Speaker 4: Atlanta to compete. And then the next year we were
Speaker 4: on the winning alliance in the first Oklahoma Regional and
Speaker 4: again the team went to Atlanta. So you know, got
Speaker 4: started on the right foot.
Speaker 1: There you go, and BoJack's boys were instrumental in getting
Speaker 1: that Artemis rocket ship up to the moon here recently. Yes, yes, wow, crazy,
Speaker 1: this is wonderful how it comes circle, It really is.
Speaker 1: So what else is cooking at the school?
Speaker 3: Well, we started school, Tom, I don't know if you
Speaker 3: know that. We had over seven hundred students walk through
Speaker 3: our door engaged in real world learning that leads to
Speaker 3: that leads to work, and that leads to that leads
Speaker 3: to jobs.
Speaker 2: We did this year.
Speaker 3: Also, we enhanced our safety protocols.
Speaker 2: So if you're.
Speaker 3: Looking to come see me and come and come visit,
Speaker 3: and I hope, I hope you will.
Speaker 2: I hope the listeners do. Everyone enters, even when George
Speaker 2: comes to see me.
Speaker 3: Everyone enters. Through our main entrance. We have locked all
Speaker 3: of our sixty three doors and everyone and then we'll
Speaker 3: get you where you need to be. Once you come
Speaker 3: in through that main entrance, will get you access where
Speaker 3: you need to to go. So it is much safer
Speaker 3: and that that is a big deal. That is a
Speaker 3: big deal for us.
Speaker 2: To do that. And I'll tell you who.
Speaker 3: The kids are doing fine when we said we're going
Speaker 3: to lock and they're like, all right, and they're finding
Speaker 3: their way around find some of the educators and visitors
Speaker 3: are like, what, I.
Speaker 2: Can't come in the door, but they're figuring it out.
Speaker 2: And I don't know about you.
Speaker 3: But I could use a few steps extra myself, So
Speaker 3: it is fine, It is fine. I do have some
Speaker 3: other data to share with you, and I'm going to
Speaker 3: have to read it. We had such a successful year
Speaker 3: last year. We had over twenty five hundred other students
Speaker 3: enrolled in workforce and economic development and another two hundred
Speaker 3: in adult and career development. Plus we taught over fifty
Speaker 3: thousand hours of safety training to the organizations in our district.
Speaker 3: And then I saved the best for last, so hang on.
Speaker 3: Our average wage was over twenty four dollars an hour
Speaker 3: and our graduates put six over six point three million
Speaker 3: dollars in the economy and I'm just super out of
Speaker 3: what we did last last school year.
Speaker 1: Now that really statistics.
Speaker 2: There, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1: Yeah, those numbers don't lie.
Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 3: And being a post secondary institution, you know, our school
Speaker 3: starts all year long. We just don't start in August
Speaker 3: when those seven hundred students walked through our doors. So
Speaker 3: we're starting EMT classes, you know, emergency medical technician classes
Speaker 3: in October, and I believe we still have a few
Speaker 3: openings left for that.
Speaker 2: So if you are interested.
Speaker 3: In being an EMT, those are great jobs. We have
Speaker 3: clinicals with our friends at Jane Phillips Ascension, Saint John
Speaker 3: as well as other organizations the Bartlesvielle Ambulance where they
Speaker 3: can get there get their clinical experience and they're there.
Speaker 2: They're great, great jobs. And then we have other.
Speaker 3: Classes in electricity and plumbing and that are starting this
Speaker 3: fall too, So that you think about school starts in August,
Speaker 3: well not for Track County because we're post secondary, although
Speaker 3: over seven hundred people came through our doors last week,
Speaker 3: but we also start at other times during the year
Speaker 3: during the year as well.
Speaker 1: Man, that's great. You know, when I was younger, the
Speaker 1: push was you have to have that four year degree,
Speaker 1: you have to have that four year degree. But these schools,
Speaker 1: much like Tri County Tech, were just starting to emerge
Speaker 1: in the seventies and where I was growing up near Chicago,
Speaker 1: and I thought, well, Jeepney, you know, I've never seen
Speaker 1: a plumber go broke. I've never seen an electrician go broke.
Speaker 1: That fellas who handled the air conditioning are living pretty good.
Speaker 1: And there were just other options out there. And I
Speaker 1: knew so many guys that I graduated waited high school
Speaker 1: with who learned by using their hands. It was it
Speaker 1: was that that's where they lived. That was that was
Speaker 1: a wheelhouse. And when I came to town and I
Speaker 1: saw Cray County Tech, and I saw what a value
Speaker 1: this is. And then I started reading up on your history.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, Wow, we've got it. We've got a diamond here.
Speaker 1: We better take care of this gym.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, careers and healthcare careers in as you were saying
Speaker 3: the trades, yeah, careers and uh and we have some
Speaker 3: college preparatory program you do like that George alluded to.
Speaker 3: But we are about hands on learning and getting students
Speaker 3: of any age from the classroom to work, get a job,
Speaker 3: get a job.
Speaker 2: And let's not forget cosmetology. Oh yea to do that.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, you guys work on hear and teeth.
Speaker 2: We do work on haar and teeth.
Speaker 1: What was it about a year ago that the medical
Speaker 1: wing or the yes opened up? Really that that.
Speaker 2: Was awesome, absolutely lea state of the art.
Speaker 3: Those simulation mannequins, Tom, they'll kind of scare you, they
Speaker 3: will because if they're like checking how they put the
Speaker 3: light in your eyes bill blink, they will. I was
Speaker 3: down there one day when in all of our operatories,
Speaker 3: in all of our rooms, they had a birthing simulation.
Speaker 3: They I forgot how many children were born in that day.
Speaker 3: Well over twenty simulated children were born that day. It
Speaker 3: is incredible the experience that students can happen and they
Speaker 3: receive hands on experience in and clinical sitting setting is
Speaker 3: an actual workplace settings. But we can simulate the experience
Speaker 3: in that in that newly newly offered that newly offered wing.
Speaker 3: That is amazing, amazing. Again, it'll it'll it'll scare you, it.
Speaker 1: Will gorge I gotta ask you, you know, twenty years
Speaker 1: ago when you first got on the ball, Lord, did
Speaker 1: you ever think in all those yeares that you be
Speaker 1: having simul heated berths like that.
Speaker 4: That's exactly right, and say, that's the other thing is
Speaker 4: and that we know this today things are changing so rapidly,
Speaker 4: and that's that's the other thing that we have to
Speaker 4: our students have to understand, is you have to stay
Speaker 4: abreast of all of these changes and understand that today's
Speaker 4: job may not be here five years from now, so
Speaker 4: be ready to adapt and change. And that's what's going
Speaker 4: on in today's industries. And that's what we're doing, is
Speaker 4: preparing our students for these changes, to be ready to
Speaker 4: be adaptable. And and like you said earlier, you know
Speaker 4: there are so many jobs out there, and not everyone
Speaker 4: has to go to college.
Speaker 1: You know, I went to college.
Speaker 4: Yes, I got a degree in electrical engineering. But I
Speaker 4: I feel that what we have to do is look
Speaker 4: at every individual and decide what is best for you
Speaker 4: as an individual. Correct, Because a lot of our students
Speaker 4: they'll come and go and get find something for them
Speaker 4: and maybe they'll go out and work and then go
Speaker 4: to college. You never know, you know, it's it's what's
Speaker 4: best for each individual. And uh, there's so many opportunities
Speaker 4: you know, we have. We're the only school right now
Speaker 4: that have that has the hybrid nursing program. And uh,
Speaker 4: this is an opportunity for our students to go through
Speaker 4: a nursing program and basically almost do it at home.
Speaker 4: But they still they have to go do their clinicals
Speaker 4: and all that. But it gives an opportunity for these
Speaker 4: students to get their education in a different way than
Speaker 4: like you say, twenty years ago, and gives us an
Speaker 4: opportunity to educate more students.
Speaker 1: So this is amazing.
Speaker 3: And the way students learn now, students don't learn in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty six, the way I learned, not in twenty
Speaker 3: twenty six a couple a few decades ago. Yeah, they don't.
Speaker 3: And so we adapt to not only the workforce needs,
Speaker 3: which is very important, like George was saying, but the
Speaker 3: way students learn today to meet their diverse needs.
Speaker 2: And that's exciting, It is very It is exciting.
Speaker 1: And we started out as based on nursing. That was
Speaker 1: the ades.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, that was the first program at the first technology
Speaker 3: center in the state of Oklahoma.
Speaker 2: Absolutely nice full circle. Huh, you better believe it. You
Speaker 2: better believe it.
Speaker 1: Anything else you'd like to share with us, we got it.
Speaker 1: I think we've got something coming up here, don't we?
Speaker 2: We do, absolutely so.
Speaker 3: Our Tri County Tech Foundation helps support our students through scholarships,
Speaker 3: emergency assistance, and food aid.
Speaker 2: You know, Tom, we do not.
Speaker 3: Accept federal financial tuition aid for our students, and we
Speaker 3: still have students that need help. About ninety percent actually
Speaker 3: of our adult students need help paying their tuition and
Speaker 3: the Foundation.
Speaker 2: Helps pay that gap.
Speaker 3: And our biggest fundraiser is the golf tournament, the Foundation
Speaker 3: Golf Tournament, which is October first at Hillcrest Country Club,
Speaker 3: and we still have some sponsorships available and some teams available.
Speaker 3: I would love I don't golf, but I would love
Speaker 3: to see you out there. I do eat lunch and
Speaker 3: I ride around in a golf.
Speaker 1: Cart, and so you look spectacular at it.
Speaker 3: Some people say I must be, you know, the person
Speaker 3: that looks after to be sure that there's no cheating
Speaker 3: going on. I don't do that because I wouldn't even
Speaker 3: know what that is. But please come out and see
Speaker 3: us and support our students, and if you're not able
Speaker 3: to do that and participate in the golf tournament. Look
Speaker 3: at the good our foundation does. We're changing lives of
Speaker 3: students that we receive thank you notes almost every day
Speaker 3: from students who lives have been changed, who never would
Speaker 3: be able to think about pursuing a fantastic career without
Speaker 3: the support of our community and the support of the
Speaker 3: funds we raise from this tournament.
Speaker 1: And I understand these students walk out usually get free, exactly.
Speaker 4: And I want to add to that. You know, from
Speaker 4: the time I joined the board, one of the first
Speaker 4: things I did was attend the nurse's penning ceremony. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and ever since then, I've tried to attend as many
Speaker 4: as I possibly can. And when I do attend those,
Speaker 4: I keep my little cheek cheat and keep track of
Speaker 4: how many of the nurses when they give their little
Speaker 4: those talk say, I want to thank the Trick County
Speaker 4: Tech Foundation for a.
Speaker 1: Scholarship.
Speaker 4: And it's the percentage is way up there, it's like
Speaker 4: ninety percent somewhere in that number. And you know, and
Speaker 4: I always tell the Foundation board, you know, thank you,
Speaker 4: because it's because of the foundation that these students are
Speaker 4: able to attend, you know, and they're and so that's
Speaker 4: why we encourage people to participate in the golf tournament.
Speaker 1: That's why we encourage them.
Speaker 4: To make donations to the foundation, because that money goes
Speaker 4: back to the students. It's not being wasted, it goes
Speaker 4: directly to the students to help the students. And and
Speaker 4: like you say, they're going coming out with debt free,
Speaker 4: you know, and we're talking about the adult students. Obviously
Speaker 4: they're our youth. They're going there free anyway. I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, the taxpayers are governing gladly because they're going
Speaker 4: to go to work.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, yes, absolutely, And the students that Georgia are talking about,
Speaker 3: once they receive jobs in our community, that is for generations,
Speaker 3: their children live better, their families better. They live here,
Speaker 3: they buy homes here, they buy furniture here, they buy
Speaker 3: food here. They are putting money back into our community
Speaker 3: and they come back and support us too. It's a
Speaker 3: beautiful it's a beautiful circle to be able to be
Speaker 3: involved in.
Speaker 1: I want to thank you both for being here with
Speaker 1: us today. Well, thank you, doctor Strobel and also George
Speaker 1: halfy Itis, thank you very much for being with us
Speaker 1: and representing so well our beautiful, wonderful track. Auntie Tech
Speaker 1: here in Bartlesville, right here on Bartlesville Radio. Folks, you've
Speaker 1: been watching and listening to our community connection