Outlook 2016 - Education and Careers

SUPPLEMENT TO THE OKLAHOMAN | SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2016

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SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2016

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

STUDENT LIFE

OCU law professor holds discussions to address race

BY SILAS ALLEN Staff Writer sallen@oklahoman.com

During the fall semester of 2014, as the country was embroiled in protests over a series of police killings of unarmed black men, a student asked Danne Johnson to moderate a forum on racial issues and police-community relations.

When she agreed, Johnson expected the discussion to last an hour or two. But a year and a half later, that conversation continues.

Johnson, a professor at Oklahoma City University School of Law, leads a biweekly discussion session in which law students are invited to talk about race. During those discussions, students confront issues like racism and white privilege. Johnson said she hopes those discussions will leave students of every race better equipped to handle those issues when they come up in the courtroom.

“I think it’s important for lawyers to think about race before it’s important to think about race,” she said.

The forum in 2014 came just weeks after a police officer shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, in Ferguson, Mo. Brown’s death came less than a month after Eric Garner, a black man in Staten Island, N.Y., died after police placed him in a choke-hold.

The two men’s deaths led to large-scale demonstrations in cities across the country. Protesters accused police of using overly aggressive tactics in communities of color.

On the day of the OCU forum, a crowd of students and others showed up with questions about race relations, interactions between police and the community, and the role of attorneys.

The problem, Johnson said, was that answers to those questions were hard to reach. Many of them were big, multifaceted issues that couldn’t be addressed in a single forum, she said.

“I think it was a hard conversation,

Danne Johnson, standing, a professor at the Oklahoma City University School of Law, conducts a discussion session with her students March 2. [PHOTO BY JIM BECKEL, THE OKLAHOMAN]

and people got upset,” she said. “People wanted answers.”

So at the end of the forum, Johnson told students to email her if they had more questions about race that they wanted to discuss. She expected she might get two or three emails. Instead, 26 students sent her questions.

After talking with each of the students about their questions, Johnson asked if they would be interested in meeting periodically to hash out those issues more thoroughly. Several agreed, and Johnson

began holding discussion groups every other week for first-year law students.

It’s been interesting to see how those conversations have taken shape, Johnson said. Discussions about race relations tend not to happen much in the outside world, she said. Either people are uncomfortable talking about it or they don’t bring it up for fear of making someone else uncomfortable.

Even when they do happen, those conversations aren’t always fruitful, Johnson said. People tend to shut down or become

angry when issues like white privilege come up.

“I think it is most comfortable to ignore race,” she said.

But by forming a discussion group to address those issues, the students have given themselves license to talk about them in a way they might not otherwise, Johnson said.

Students are encouraged to talk about their own perspectives and listen to those SEE LAW SCHOOL, PAGE 4

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EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION IN EDUCATION

COMMUNITY LEARNING

County extension center settles into new home Amanda Scorse, left, spreads peanut butter on a tortilla while Sonya Williams pours chocolate chips during an Oklahoman County OSU Cooperative Extension Service cooking class.

BY TAMI ALTHOFF For The Oklahoman

After moving into a new 7,000-square-foot office building last year, employees of the Oklahoma County Extension Service are feeling more at home in their new location at 2500 NE 63.

“It took a while for our patrons to learn where we are located, but now things seem to be settling in,” said County Extension Director LaDonna Hines.

The $1.3 million administrative building on the east side of the Oklahoma City-County Health Department’s Northeast Regional Health and Wellness Campus houses the Oklahoma County offices of the Oklahoma State University’s Cooperative Extension Service.

The move has been beneficial, given that the extension service has fostered relationships with businesses and schools on the city’s northeast side in addition to the health department, Hines said.

“We’ve gained new partners such as Millwood Public Schools, Braum’s and the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives,” she said. “These are businesses and schools in our new Adventure District.”

Hines said the new location also has allowed the extension service to continue to offer its four areas of programming, which provide hands-on learning in 4-H youth development, family and consumer sciences, horticulture and agriculture.

The service has two full-time 4-H educators who work with Oklahoma County youths and two family and consumer science educators.

“One is a registered dietitian, and the other focuses on parenting and child relations issues,” Hines said of the family and consumer science

[PHOTO BY JIM BECKEL, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES]

educators.

Another two educators work in the horticulture program.

The extension service staffs five nutrition assistants and a Farm to You coordinator, too.

Hines said more than 27,000 people attended educational programs last year. Nearly 600 youth participated in 22 4-H clubs across the county, and another 118 adult volunteers provided leadership for the program.

About 1,400 youth participated in 4-H school enrichment programs such as Lego robotics, junior master gardeners, baby-sitting and yoga, she said.

The horticulture program tested more than 1,500 samples of soil, water and forage last year, and 40 new students participated in the Master Gardener training program.

Other programs offered by the extension service include co-parenting workshops, nutrition programs, health and wellness programs and the Farm to You exhibit, which travels to schools, county fairs and the community.

The exhibit helps youths understand where food comes from and how the body uses food for health.

“We celebrated 100 years back in 2014, and here we are in 2016,” Hines

said. “We are still educating the public with research-based information.

“Years ago, the educators would travel on trains from one town to the other, and they would do their teaching or programs on the train,” she added.

“Nowadays, we still travel into the community teaching or educating the public about many important issues.”

Hines said there is a program advisory council for each program area, which provides information on what issues are important in the county.

“This is how we determine programming,” she said. “So, we really try to present pressing issues to the community.”

Hines said the extension service will be able to better serve the community later this year when OSU completes its conference center directly west of the county office. The building is scheduled to be completed in September.

“This conference center will have a demonstration kitchen, along with plenty of space to provide many programs to the public,” Hines said.

“This past year, we have been limited on providing programs at our facility since we don’t have our own space. We are excited for this new building.”

Left: A student fills out a worksheet before engaging in a discussion session.

Law school FROM PAGE 2

of their classmates, she said. After a few sessions, students who have never spent much time thinking or talking about race leave with a framework for thinking about those issues and the vocabulary to discuss them, she said.

In some cases, students in the discussion group learn as much about themselves as anyone else, Johnson said.

During one session, a student mentioned that he hadn’t known before coming to the session that another woman in the group was American Indian.

The woman burst into tears and told her classmates that she didn’t think she looked American Indian and didn’t tell anyone about her heritage because she worried it would change the way people think about her.

Conversations about race and how society deals with it are important for anyone, Johnson said, but particularly for students who will go on to be attorneys. Lawyers have a critical role to play in a number of issues facing minority communities, such as high incarceration rates among young black men and differences in sentencing for defendants convicted of possession of

crack cocaine versus powder cocaine.

The group has continued to grow during the past year and a half, Johnson said.

More students are participating, and she started a similar group for second-year law students after students in the first year of the program said they wanted to keep meeting.

Johnson said she’s happy to continue holding the discussions as long as students are interested in participating in them. But she isn’t sure how long that will be.

“I didn’t foresee it going on this long,” she said.

Tasha Frida, a law student from Oklahoma City, has been attending the discussion group since the beginning. Frida, who had both American Indian and African American heritage, said the group gives students a good place to talk about issues that might otherwise make for uncomfortable conversations.

Although those conversations can occasionally be fraught with tension, Frida, 35, said it’s important that students are able to discuss them honestly — especially since most of those students will go on to be attorneys.

“As attorneys, we’re talking about issues of justice and equality and those kinds of things,” she said. “I think it is of the utmost importance to be able to understand people’s differences.”

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OUTLOOK: THE FINISH LINE This week’s Excellence and Innovation in Education is the fourth and last part in our “Outlook 2016: Going for the Gold” series.

The first in the series — The Way We Live — was published April 3, the second — Business & Technology — on April 10, and the third — Advancement in Health — on April 17. You can also access all the news from each section online at NewsOK.com.

THE OKLAHOMAN’S NEWSPAPERS IN EDUCATION

Program offers resources to teachers, students At a time when state funding for education is being reduced, programs like Newspapers in Education are becoming essential. The Oklahoman dedicates a team of four to represent NIE and direct the creation and distribution of teacher resources.

“We have an educated and passionate team dedicated to serving Oklahoma teachers, but the truth is, we could not have the type of impact we are having without the support of the community,” said Ashley Howard, who oversees the NIE program.

Howard mentions the enormous amount of support that the program receives from other institutions including the University of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma History Center, the Oklahoma Department of Libraries and several Oklahoma tribes.

“We see higher learning institutions, state officials and corporations working together for the benefit of K-12 teachers and to be there to facilitate these relationships is an awesome experience,” she said.

NIE provides real-world reading materials, supplemental curriculum and hands-on learning experiences at no charge to program beneficiaries.

Brooke Marley, sponsorship coordinator for NIE, said, “We are changing the lives of Oklahoma teachers and students by providing classrooms across the state with real-world experiences through the newspaper.”

NIE also coordinates the Central Oklahoma Spelling Bee and offers teachers

professional development opportunities.

“Coordinating and hosting the spelling bee and teacher workshops brings a unique element to the job because it allows me to interact and engage with students and teachers directly,” said Bailey Huntsman, NIE programs manager.

In the 2015-16 school year, NIE provided access to The Oklahoman’s Print Replica and Archives to more than 190,000 Oklahoma students. Newspapers in Education will produce 16 educational programs spanning a variety of topics including workforce development, STEM learning and American Indian heritage.

In May 2015, NIE submitted its “Energy: Powering Oklahoma” curriculum that focused on workforce development and STEM learning to the Central States Circulation Managers and Midwest Circulation Management associations; the program received first-place recognition from both organizations.

For the 2016-17 school year, NIE hopes to increase the number of teachers benefiting from its services despite cuts to state funding.

The team still believes that they will find the funds they need to expand the program.

“I think NIE in particular is important because we are providing a service and resources that no one else can provide,” said sponsorship coordinator Angela Mead.

Teachers looking to gain access to NIE resources can visit nie.newsok.com.

FROM STAFF REPORTS

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EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION IN EDUCATION

Community college programs help fill gaps in adult, youth education

BY MELISSA HOWELL Staff Writer mhowell@oklahoman.com

Oklahoma City Community College has launched a number of outreach programs to repair deficiencies in literacy, education and language in the Oklahoma City area.

One of the greatest areas of need is among foreign-born communities. Oklahoma City’s immigrant population from 2009 to 2014 increased by 25 percent, much faster than the native population growth rate of 8 percent, according to American Community Survey data. Of those, many who settle in Oklahoma City struggle due to a lack of English and educational proficiencies.

In response, OCCC began offering English as a Second Language and high school equivalency classes in 2008. Since then, demand has grown significantly.

This spring, the program has 4,614 students. It offers 121 courses offered at 19 locations throughout the city.

“We always have a waiting list,” said Gloria Torres, OCCC’s director of Community Outreach and Education. “It’s difficult for us to provide enough classes for them.”

Also, the college’s Capitol Hill campus offers lifelong learning courses such as operating an iPhone or Android phone, in English, Spanish and Korean.

But the college doesn’t just target communities that speak languages other than English. Many native Oklahomans who need an educational boost may earn a high school diploma through OCCC’s outreach programs or take a literacy course.

“Community Outreach and Education is focused on providing educational support to the whole family,” Torres said.

“It’s just a matter of making sure that we can provide access to families at whatever level they are.”

‘I LOVE THIS COUNTRY’ Sophia Vo, a native of Vietnam, came to Oklahoma in 2011. Shortly after her arrival, she enrolled in one of OCCC’s ESL classes.

“When I got here, I enrolled in ESL. The classes I took were in the fall of 2011 and spring 2012,” Vo said.

Once completing her ESL classes and a semester of noncredit classes, Vo enrolled in 15 hours at OCCC. She graduated with an associate’s degree and a 4.0 gradepoint average two years later.

Now, she is a junior at the University of Oklahoma studying mechanical engineering.

Vo said she plans to graduate in 2018 instead of 2017 because she takes classes part time.

“I don’t want to take full-time (classes) for engineering. I want to study very carefully,” Vo said.

PROGRAMS FOR YOUTHS In addition to adult outreach, OCCC operates youth programs to foster enthusiasm for learning. Two of the most popular are the ACT Prep classes offered in high schools and the College for Kids fullday, summer programming.

College for Kids is a summer enrichment program for students in grades 1 through 8. Each week-long session includes Cyber Camp, musical theater camps, Summer Blast and World Music Camp. Kids may go one week or all summer for $100 per session.

“We offer this at a very reasonable (rate) for summer time full-day programming,” Torres said. “Kids are learning throughout the summer, but they don’t realize it because they are having fun.”

The ACT Prep program is a way of helping students gain an appetite for learning and, it gives them an opportunity to earn college credit at no cost.

“If we can get (students) to start taking the ACT earlier, it will increase their chances for a better score,” Torres said.

Students may begin taking the ACT during their junior year, and program tuition is free to Oklahoma City residents.

“We know if we can provide access to academic support to the adult, that’s going to trickle down to the student,” Torres said. “It’s a matter of making sure that we can provide access to families wherever they are (in their education).”

OCCC is the largest provider of adult education in the state. OCCC Community Outreach and Education has three campuses at 6500 S Land, 123 SW 25 in the Capitol Hill district and at the OCCC main campus at 7777 S May Ave.

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DOWNTOWN CAMPUSES

College learning environments gain business collaboration opportunities Oklahoma City-area universities and colleges are eyeing downtown locations in an effort to partner and interact with public and private sector entities. College administrators hope proximity to businesses, law firms and governmental offices will provide a broader and more functional learning experience.

Melissa Howell takes a look at three universities that recently have joined downtown Oklahoma City.

AFTER MOVE, OCU LAW SCHOOL EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS Oklahoma City UniRight: versity had been planThe main ning to move its law entrance of the Oklaschool downtown for homa City some time. When the University old Central High School School building became availof Law is able, school adminshown. The istrators seized the school is in opportunity, said Valthe former erie Couch, dean of the Central High OCU School of Law. School buildThe OCU law ing. [PHOTO BY DOUG HOKE, THE school moved into the OKLAHOMAN] 106-year-old former school at the corner of NW 8 and Hudson Street in the fall of 2015. The move and the building have exceeded expectations, Couch said.

“It’s becoming a hub of activity, which is exactly what we have hoped for,” she said. “Not only are our students going out into the downtown community. Also, the community is coming into our building.

It’s been an incredible synergy. We are really fortunate to have it in our hands.”

Interaction has extended to a number of entities in municipal government, attor-

neys in private practice, nonprofits and even Oklahoma’s American Indian tribes.

“We have a new municipal law clinic where our students work with attorneys with the city,” she said. “The Urban Land Institute is a group that is involving our students and the Oklahoma Secretary of State has held meetings at our building

to which he invited the tribal liaisons. It’s been a wonderful way of understanding how our students might be of help with dealing the tribes.”

The location of the school has exceeded expectations as well, Couch said.

“It’s located right in the heart of the legal community with plenty of property

sitting on five acres of land. ... The building is made for the ages.”

When the law school was located on the main campus, it was separated into four buildings. Now it is fully contained in the five-story structure designed by architect Andrew Solomon Layton, who also designed the Skirvin Hotel and the state Capitol. Layton also designed a number of buildings on OCU’s main campus.

The law school fills all five levels of the building. The first and second floors house the law library with a commons and cafe for student interaction.

“The third level used to be auditorium,” Couch said. “It’s a large area sort of like a living room and is convertible to have debates or conferences. We have space to embed Oklahoma Lawyers for Children, a group of volunteer lawyers who represent children in a variety of contexts.”

The fourth level is faculty offices and the fifth level holds classrooms and a mock courtroom.

“The students love the building and location. They love being downtown in the middle of everything,” Couch said.

The law school’s presence downtown is augmented by the OCU Devon Boathouse which annually hosts the OCU Head of the Oklahoma collegiate rowing competition.

REDEVELOPMENT DRAWS OU ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS For Interim Dean Hans Butzer and OU’s College of Architecture, the goal of its downtown facility at 800 W Sheridan was “collaboration.”

“The priRight: mary aim for Hans our OU archiButzer is tecture studio is dean of the archito engage with tecture the community college. and contribute to build stronger communities. With that, the larger goal in mind is to arrange a spectrum of activities,” Butzer said.

Currently, three classes have been held at the space since its ribbon cutting in September.

The design studio students are working with the Classen 10-Penn neighborhood to build sustainable systems and strategies in architecture, Butzer said.

Another class features a series of invited speakers to address the issues surrounding redevelopment. The college’s division of regional and city planning also offers a course downtown that deals with city planning issues and helps students connect with

OU’s College of Architecture has a new “warehouse” studio at 800 W Sheridan on Film Row in downtown Oklahoma City.

[PHOTOS BY PAUL HELLSTERN, THE OKLAHOMAN]

the city planning department that is only two and one-half blocks away.

“Partnering is really the key priority here. We are building partnerships with local professional organizations for workshops in the community and opening up our guest lectures to the public,” he said.

“Ultimately, the most import-

ant connection will be with nonprofits in neighborhoods with whom we can offer design support and create visions for what they can do for a building,” Butzer said.

The studio is shared among the five branches of the College of Architecture, which are architecture, landscape architecture, regional and city planning, inte-

rior design and construction science, according to an OU news release.

The building’s old warehouse feel has been left intact with open spaces, no traditional classrooms, sliding doors to partition off smaller areas and a community area that facilitates meetings and presentations.

“It’s a very vibrant space,”

UCO DOWNTOWN SERVES STUDENTS WHERE THEY ARE UCO Downtown at 131 Dean A. McGee Ave., in the Carnegie Centre, opened in January 2015 in the heart of downtown Oklahoma City’s business district to provide easy access for people who work or live downtown.

“As a public metropolitan university, UCO is committed to establishing a lasting connection to downtown Oklahoma Right: The City and its many Carnegie learners in need of the Centre was educational experirenovated ence we can provide and opened in them with,” said John 2014. [PHOTOS

BY STEVE GOOCH, Barthell, UCO proTHE OKLAHOvost. “The proximity MAN ARCHIVES] of UCO Downtown to the developing Innovation District allows UCO to be an enthusiastic contributor to the future of Oklahoma City and the state.”

UCO Downtown can accommodate college students at all phases of life and learning. Classes are offered on site and online in a variety of formats. And all classrooms in the nearly 10,000-squarefoot space can be arranged and rearranged to meet multiple needs.

Course offerings include a blend of graduate and undergraduate courses during a variety of days and times to accommodate various schedules. These include three credit-hour weekend courses that meet in person from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon three times

during the semester with the remainder of the class meetings held online.

Currently, the campus serves 241 stu-

dents and offers 18 courses for the spring 2016 semester.

The new learning center is UCO’s fourth

Butzer said.

The studio is the second of its kind. The first is in Tulsa. The college hopes to take the knowledge and experience gained from the Tulsa lab and apply them to the Oklahoma City lab.

“The best part is to see the students. They don’t realize how powerful ideas can be until they can design something,” Butzer said. “They don’t realize how a good idea can transform into something real. When I started teaching here at OU in 2000, 90 percent had decided they were going to leave Oklahoma. Now, the numbers are almost reversed.

They can stay right here and do something great.”

location in downtown Oklahoma City.

“We believe this university has a historic responsibility to this region,” said UCO President Don Betz. “We’ve been growing our presence in the metro area of Oklahoma City.”

The Academy of Contemporary Music in Bricktown offers associate’s degrees in music performance, production and business.

The CHK | Central Boathouse on the Oklahoma River features an art gallery, a UCO Jazz Lab performance stage and training facilities for the university’s women’s rowing team.

And UCO’s Center for eLearning and Customized Education in Santa Fe Plaza offers business and workforce development. Businesses can use the new UCO Downtown space for noncredit courses, workshops and conferences. They can rent space and bring in their own trainer or ask UCO to provide customized training.

“We recognize that our future is tied directly to the people of Oklahoma and especially to those in Oklahoma City; UCO Downtown creates an opportunity for students to more easily participate in a metropolitan relevant set of course and program offerings,” Barthell said.

“We are excited about the future that UCO Downtown brings our students and faculty members. The many and varied course and program offerings will continue to grow in number as this newest teaching facility at the Carnegie Centre attracts students who are ready for this opportunity.”

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LEARNING

Inspiring independent thinking, lifelong learning One of the instructional games developed at the K20 Center is “Mind Your Own Budget,” a financial literacy lesson aimed at young adults on their own for the first time. [PHOTO BY STEVE SISNEY, THE OKLA-

BY K.S MCNUTT Staff Writer kmcnutt@oklahoman.com

NORMAN — Transforming conventional schools into high-achieving 21st century schools is the focus of the K20 Center at the University of Oklahoma.

The staff at the education research and development center learn how students learn and use that information to help teachers teach more effectively.

Scott Wilson, director of innovative technologies, said K20 promotes creative ways for students in elementary through postgraduate school to learn.

“It’s important that our learning continues to evolve,” Wilson said.

Traditional lessons often emphasize facts that students are likely to forget over time, he said.

Lesson plans developed at K20 are designed to engage students in the subject by making it relevant to them in a realworld context.

This “authentic instruction” prepares students in a way that creates independent thinkers and lifelong learners, Wilson said.

HOMAN]

ENGAGING STUDENTS

game that has the right mix of instruction and enjoyment, “keeping people at exactly that challenge level that keeps them engaged and wanting to learn more,” said Thompson, who has a bachelor’s degree in film studies and a master’s in instructional design from the OU College of Education.

It requires an understanding of how the brain works and grows, he said.

“We want to hook the student on some engaging component within the game,” Wilson said. “The flow in learning is broken if the material is too difficult or too easy and the student gets bored.”

In the end, Thompson said, “If you complete the game, you understand the concepts.”

One way K20 does that is by designing instructional video games, an endeavor that can cost anywhere from $50,000 to millions of dollars.

“We’re not about entertaining. We are here to teach a learning objective,” Wilson said. “We’re successful if students learn more and are more engaged.”

The number of teachers willing to use these tools is growing as they discover game-based learning allows them to meet students at the individual’s level, he said.

Instructional video games give players immediate feedback for their decisions and can turn failure into success.

When a student fails on a traditional test that’s often the end of the story, but “in a game you can fail and learn from that,” Wilson said. “The learning continues rather than fading with time, because you were actively applying what you were learning.”

Instructional game designers like Will Thompson work with a subject matter expert to ensure information is accurate and educational concepts are incorporated. The designer’s task is to develop a

Other learning tools developed at the K20 Center include lessons for grades K-12 that are free to teachers. They can use the lessons just as they are or modify them to meet classroom needs.

K20 LEARN lessons are developed by master teachers with years of experience in public schools to better prepare students for college, Wilson said.

“We’re looking for a more engaging way to teach a concept,” said Kate Raymond, math curriculum designer.

The designers might use earthquakes, amusement parks, cultural diversity, civil rights, folklore, popular culture or classic literature — to name a few things — to grab the students’ attention.

For a lesson on congruent triangle, Raymond used scissor lifts. “It’s most important that the platform is parallel,” she said.

“We always want to include something that has real-world application.”

She and curriculum designers in English/language art, science and social studies make up a four-person team.

EMPOWERING TEACHERS

The members share ideas and are talking about developing some interdisciplinary lessons, like a social studies/mathematics lesson using cultures and proportions.

“If we can build bridges between content it can be a very powerful exercise for students,” Raymond said.

A K20 LEARN lesson travels a long path to make it to the classroom.

After curriculum designers focus on specific content and process standards, a design team researches existing lessons, instructional strategies and practices that help students meet those standards.

Everything is evaluated for both authentic instruction — relevant, engag-

ing and real-world contexts that prepare students to be independent thinkers — and for use of the 5E (Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend, Evaluate) model, which places students at the center of learning by having them create their own investigations and explore topics in a way that is meaningful to them.

Completed lessons are peer-reviewed by education professionals for both teaching method and content before they are made available on the website for teachers to download and print.

They also can choose from hundreds of research-based instructional strategies — activities that help students brainstorm, collaborate, compare and contrast, hypothesize, interpret, summarize and more — to use with the lessons.

“One of the challenges of teaching is ‘I teach the way I was taught,’” Wilson said.

The K20 Center is showing teachers and their students a new way.

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EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION IN EDUCATION

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Left: Masters student Alex Suhren works in the lab of Oklahoma State University’s newly formed Unmanned Systems Research Institute in Stillwater. Far left and below: Projects in the works are shown in the OSU lab. [PHOTOS BY CHRIS LANDSBERGER, THE OKLAHOMAN]

THE SKY’S THE LIMIT

BY K.S. MCNUTT Staff Writer kmcnutt@oklahoman.com

STILLWATER — What if forecasters could “hear” a tornado an hour before it forms or firefighters could see what dangers lie on the other side of a wildfire?

“It would increase their capabilities and help them save lives,” said Jamey Jacob, director of the Unmanned Systems Research Institute at Oklahoma State University.

Saving lives — or the first steps to that end — is all in a day’s work for researchers at the institute.

OSU announced the new research organization focusing on the development of unmanned systems technologies in December and named Jacob, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, the director.

“Engineers are all about problem solving,” Jacob said. “It’s about trying to find that best solution for whatever problem they’re given.”

The solutions being designed, tested and evaluated at the institute involve unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) commonly called drones.

Focus areas include weather, the oil and gas industry and first responders.

“The one that I’m really excited about is ... using these to help firefighters fight wildfires,” Jacob said.

“A firefighting crew heading toward the wildfire, they have no situational awareness about what that fire looks like,” he said.

“More often than not, they stop and fight the first fire they come to rather than the one that really needs attention first.”

That’s because they have no way of knowing that, beyond the front line, the fire is approaching a propane tank or a house where there could be victims.

An aerial view could give them the big picture of what the fire looks like as it develops. It also would allow the command post to track the location of the firefighters and to warn them if the fire changes direction.

WEATHER FORECASTING Several graduate students work in the lab on technologies to improve tornado forecasting.

“We need more data at the location separate from radar,” said Alyssa Avery, of Edmond, who is designing an aerial system to collect that data prior to a storm.

“It’s every aerospace engineer’s dream. You want to play with airplanes and make the world a better place,” Avery said.

Radar warns of a tornado about 13 minutes before it hits and doesn’t give a very accurate location, she said.

The new data is expected to extend the warning time and enhance the accuracy of predicting which circulations will become tornadoes and which ones won’t.

Arnesha Threatt, of Oklahoma City, wants to help meteorologists locate tornadoes earlier using infrasonic technology.

“Tornadoes emit a lowfrequency noise one to two hours before they form,” Threatt said.

Scientists might be able to pinpoint the location of a future tornado using an array of microphones to pick up that sound, Threatt said. She is working to create a sound that imitates the pre-tornado noise to test the theory.

“This project is very important and can impact a lot of people,” she said.

The focus of Shea Fehrenbach’s work is collecting atmospheric data for more general weather forecasting.

Fehrenbach, of Dallas, is designing a glider that launches on a rocket and deploys at 5,000 feet — where radar cannot reach — then glides downward in a circular motion.

The system will collect more

OSU researchers developing new solutions to old problems using unmanned aircraft

data and retrieve it more quickly than the weather balloons currently used, he said.

UNTAPPED POTENTIAL OSU has been developing systems for unmanned aircraft for many years, Jacob said. The new institute allows researchers “to be able to focus on some of our core strengths, and not just in our department,” he said.

“Obviously, in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UAVs are a strong focus, but we want to utilize that and allow that to grow, not just for the university but also for the entire state.”

OSU received a four-year, $6 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop aircraft systems to improve meteorology research and weather forecasting in partnership with the University of Oklahoma.

“OU has one of the strongest meteorological programs in the world, so it makes sense for us to collaborate with them in this particular area so we’re not duplicating efforts,” Jacob said.

“Of course, that’s particularly important in the times of budget cuts to make sure that you play to your strengths.”

The institute also is working with several large industries seeking solutions to their prob-

lems using UAVs, Jacob said.

An example is measuring the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and determining if it is coming from a pipeline, well or some other source.

UAVs also could do tasks like collecting water samples or counting wildlife, reducing the time required to send humans out into the field, he said.

“We’re looking at the needs of various areas,” Jacob said. “We bring these end-users into the development process as we are building the systems from the ground up — what type of designs and specifications they need.”

Jacob likens the potential uses of drones to that of smart phones. People have figured out multiple uses for the devices other than making phone calls.

“We’re still in the really earlier stages of this industry. We’re going to see a lot of development and change over the coming years as the air space opens up and people think of new ways that they can use these in various scenarios,” Jacob said.

“Right now, people are primarily using them to take cool pictures,” he said.

But now researchers are asking, “What can you use this for to actually do real science, real engineering and solve problems?”

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EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION IN EDUCATION

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

Above: Forensics student Luisa Garcia examines artificial evidence in assistant professor Tiffany Smith’s crime scene investigation course at Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City.

Left: OSU-OKC emergency medical services students Lisa Blake, Levi Wells, Anjelica Otey and Dustin Mullinix work as a team during a highfidelity simulation of a severely sick pediatric patient using a heart monitor, IVs, medication and ventilator equipment. [PHOTOS PROVIDED]

OSU-OKC prepares to open new $13M Allied Health Building

BY HENRY DOLIVE For The Oklahoman

The $13 million, 45,000-square-foot Allied Health Building nearing completion on the Oklahoma State UniversityOklahoma City campus will open a new chapter in the school’s mission of serving the community by providing top-tier technology education.

Natalie Shirley, president for the past five years at OSU-OKC, 900 N Portland Ave., said the school — originally Oklahoma State University Technical Institute — was founded in 1961 to provide technological education to the metro area.

Through a partnership with the nonprofit community health care provider Variety Care, the two-story Allied Health Building due for completion in August on the campus’ south end will help carry out that goal.

“Our signature program is nursing. We graduate some of the finest nurses in the state,” Shirley said, as she talked about the nursing and related health field programs and the school’s overall emphasis on technology education.

“We are a technology university. That’s what we do,” Shirley said. “Our graduates learn how to communicate and how to critically think. We have amazing programs that put people to work immediately, with the skills to lead.”

Many enrollees, she said, “want an OSU degree.

Often (our graduates) will go on and get a university degree.”

From the beginning, Shirley said, the school’s mission has been to meet the Oklahoma City business community’s training needs.

Students of all ages and backgrounds can earn an associate degree,

develop work skills and prepare for continuing at a four-year school, Shirley said, adding that the school should continue appealing to a broad crosssection of students looking to improve their lives.

Average student age is 28.

OSU-OKC has about 50 programs offering associate degrees or certification training, including nursing and police science, veterinarian technology, firefighter certification and health care administration. The school offers one bachelor’s degree program, in emergency response administration.

“We appeal to placebound students — people who can’t leave,” Shirley said. “They might be mothers with children at home, or possibly adults caring for aging parents.”

Sandy Pantlik, marketing and communications director, said the school’s proximity to Interstates 40 and 44 makes it attractive not just to Oklahoma City residents, but to people who live in outlying areas of the metro area.

Enrollment for the spring semester was about 5,500, with about 68 percent being part-time students, and just over half taking at least one course online. Nineteen percent of students are 35 or older, Pantlik said.

“With the leadership we have, there’s a vision of a place where people can be trained to work and to lead,” Pantlik said. “Our students trend older, and we fit the needs of many types of students.”

She said OSU-OKC also has a child-care center open to children of students, faculty and the public, and serves as a lab for the early childhood education program.

A parking garage completed in 2013 offers space for 314 vehicles, said Kan-

dace Taylor, assistant marketing director.

Two programs that are growing in popularity, Pantlik said, are sign language interpretation and surveying, the latter due to recent changes in certification requirements and the increasing need for trained, certified surveyors in construction and energyrelated industries.

The police science program in July began offering interactive training through a simulator that allows trainees to experience virtual law enforcement or crisis situations.

OSU-OKC’s police science program is accredited by the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training and provides an alternate route to peace officer certification.

Pantlik said the new computer forensics program is rapidly gaining popularity with police science enrollees, providing training in detection of online crimes.

Also in July, the school’s farmers market, held in the Horticulture Pavilion at the south end of the campus, began using a $99,456 educational grant from the U.S. Agriculture Department that will further enable it to provide healthy, locally grown food to the community while supporting local farmers.

Pantlik said the Horticulture Center offers agriculture tech degrees in horticulture technology, retail forestry, turf grass management and veterinary tech, tying in with the agricultural education focus of its parent university, Oklahoma State. Seasonal fall plant sales are conducted by students and faculty.

As for the new Allied Health Building, it will include an innovative simulation center where students can experience real-

FOR MORE INFORMATION The summer session at Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City begins June 6, and the fall semester begins Aug. 22. For more information or to enroll, call 947-4421 or go to www.osuokc.edu. For more information about the farmers market, go to www.osuokc.edu/farmersmarket, or follow the market on Facebook (osuokcfarmersmarket) and Twitter (@OSUOKCFrmrMrkt) for updates.

life medical scenarios such as labor and delivery, ER/ ICU and surgery. The Variety Care clinic will offer medical, dental, vision and behavioral health care and

will be open to students, faculty, staff and the community.

The new building also will provide training in diagnostic sonography,

dietetic technology and health care administration.

“All the professionals can train together,” Shirley said.

“Understanding how it all fits together is powerful.”

THE OKLAHOMAN

NEWSOK.COM

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2016

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THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

PREPARING FOR THE WORKFORCE

Top degrees Apprenticeships on the decline handed out in state are a good match in job market

Brian Freeman uses a cutting torch as he works on a metal project Jan. 20 at Sheet Metal Workers Training Center while going through the apprenticeship program in Oklahoma City. [PHOTO BY

BY BRIANNA BAILEY Business Writer bbailey@oklahoman.com

BY K.S. MCNUTT Staff Writer kmcnutt@oklahoman.com

The degrees conferred most by Oklahoma’s 25 public colleges and universities align nicely with the job market.

Topping the list, at 17 percent, are degrees in business management fields such as accounting, finance and marketing, according to data released in March by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.

Health professions are a close second, at 16 percent, followed by education, 8 percent, and engineering and engineering technologies, 7 percent.

“Many of those line up very well with the governor’s Oklahoma Works 100 most critical occupations,” said Tony Hutchison, who tracks education and workforce data for the regents.

Gov. Mary Fallin launched the Oklahoma Works initiative in 2015 to ensure students are being educated for the high-quality, high-paying jobs the state wants to attract and retain.

WHAT CAN GRADUATES EXPECT TO MAKE? The top average salaries for bachelor degree recipients five years after graduation are $78,158 for engineering and $59,648 for engineering technologies, according to the state regents’ 2015 Employment Outcomes Report.

Average salaries for the other three top degree-producing areas are $48,753 for business management and administration, $47,681 for health professions and $43,394 for education.

The report also looks at how many graduates from state institutions are working in Oklahoma after five years.

Education ranks the highest of the four top degree-producing areas, with 83 percent of resident students working in the state five years out and 76 percent of all graduates.

The numbers for the other three areas are health professions, 76 percent of resident students and 70 percent of all graduates; business, 73 percent and 63 percent; engineering technologies, 68 percent and 60 percent; and engineering, 56 percent and 47 percent.

“Engineering is a fairly small piece of the whole economy, but it is an area we need,” Hutchison said.

“We probably need 200 more (engineering degrees) a year, but those are expensive, and it’s hard to get people to complete those degrees.”

WHAT MAJORS DO EMPLOYERS SEEK? Engineering is ranked the “most employable college major” by Express Employment Professionals, based on a July 2015 survey of 134 Express franchisees nationwide.

Respondents were asked, “Which college major makes someone the most employable?”

Engineering was the most-mentioned major

at 17 percent, followed by accounting, 15 percent; business, 14 percent; and computer and information sciences, 9 percent.

The top response was “doesn’t matter” at 22 percent, indicating some employers value “soft skills” like work ethic, attitude and accountability above specific degrees or certifications, according to the survey report.

“We’ve often said there’s a mismatch between the skills people have and the skills that employers are looking for, and this survey indicates which college degrees confer the skills that are most in demand,” said Bob Funk, CEO of Express and owner of the 30 Express offices in Oklahoma.

MIXING IT UP Darci Bray said she uses a variety of skills in her work as a radiologic technologist at St. Anthony Healthplex East in Midwest City.

Beyond operating the scanner and X-ray machines to take images of people from head to toe, she is a patient advocate, organizer, clerical secretary, janitor, liaison and a friendly face.

When patients are hurting and grumpy, she reaches for “a heavy dose of empathy” and asks herself, “How I would want my loved ones to be treated?”

Bray, 27, earned her bachelor’s degree in medical imaging and radiation sciences from the University of Oklahoma College of Allied Health.

“I’m so glad that I fell in love with every aspect of being a radiologic technologist, because coming into the program, I really didn’t realize everything that our job entails,” she said.

As the first person in her immediate family to go to college, Bray suffered an initial lack of confidence.

It took two tries to gain acceptance into the radiography program.

As she nears her second anniversary on the job, Bray is looking forward to earning her certification in MRI and perhaps a master’s degree, which would allow her to move into administration positions.

“I’m just starting out,” she said. “I’m not done.”

While the majority of high school students in many European countries complete some type of apprenticeship program before graduation, apprenticeships are not as common in the United States and are on the decline.

In the United States, there were about 398,000 registered apprentices in 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, down 19 percent from about 490,000 in 2003.

Those numbers are in contrast to Germany, where about 60 percent of high school students participate in some type of apprenticeship program.

Between 50 percent and 60 percent of German apprenticeships each year lead to permanent jobs for the students, according to a brief from the Federal Reserve’s Fifth District Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond in 2014.

However, the Labor Department under the Obama administration has stepped up its support of apprenticeship programs, said Angela Hanks, associate director for Workforce Development Policy at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank.

“Apprenticeships were in a period of decline for a while, but we have we have seen more policymakers recognize that it is something that is effective but is somewhat ignored in the past,” Hanks said.

President Barack Obama’s 2017 budget includes adding $2 billion for apprenticeship programs, with about $200 million of that going toward youth apprenticeships. The administration has said its goal is to double the number of apprenticeships in the United States with the new funding.

CHRIS LANDSBERGER, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES]

While apprenticeships have been well-used by American trade unions in the past, other industries are now looking at apprenticeship-type programs to build their future workforces, Hanks said.

“The trades have a really had a long history of doing apprenticeships, and they really have this model down,” Hanks said. “We are now seeing more apprenticeships in manufacturing and more interest from health care and IT. There are other industries where this is possible.”

At the Sheet Metal Workers Training Center near Portland Avenue and NW 39 Expressway, apprentices learn how to use tools like cutting torches to fabricate sheet metal parts and install heating and air conditioning ducts, skills they will also hone at job sites in the Oklahoma City metro area with on-the-job training.

Students in the fouryear program receive 200 hours of classroom instruction and also work at job sites under a union contractor, receiving incremental wage increases for each year they complete in the program, as well as benefits.

One of the biggest benefits of an apprenticeship is that the apprentice does not have to take on any debt to receive training in a new career, said Trent London, apprenticeship coordinator.

“They graduate with no student debt, and you are put to work while you are in school,” London said.

Still, the union has a hard time recruiting new apprentices, London said.

“Apprenticeships seem to be a well-kept secret,” he said.

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EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION IN EDUCATION

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2016

13

JOB TRAINING

Preparing for college — and a career Technology center students can earn affordable and transferable college credit from area colleges in many career majors, CareerTech Director Marcie Mack said. Mack said students who complete CareerTech The Oklahoma CareerTech system offers high school and adult stu- instruction are better prepared for college and careers. Classes are offered dents training through a network of 29 technology center districts on 58 in more than 90 instructional areas. campuses statewide. CareerTech also has programs for grades 6 through “We look at two areas of high demand — health care and welding,” she 12 at 390 comprehensive school districts on 542 sites. said.

High school students living in a technology center district attend tuiThe Metro Technology Centers district prepares students for both tion free, while adults are charged nominal tuition. career fields and many others at its four Oklahoma City campuses.

BY K.S. MCNUTT

Staff Reports kmcnutt@oklahoman.com

Fidel Riojas practices with a virtual welding simulator at Metro Tech’s South Bryant campus in Oklahoma City.

[PHOTOS BY STEVE SISNEY THE OKLAHOMAN]

NEED FOR WELDERS IS EVER GROWING Instructor Joel Rogers said the welding program at the Metro Tech South Bryant Campus stays at 100 percent enrollment with a waiting list.

“It’s a constant flow of students coming and going as they graduate,” Rogers said.

His students learn the most common welding and cutting processes used in industry by using equipment in the state-of-theart facility.

“We had a pretty successful program previously, but we had a pretty rough facility to teach it in,” Rogers said.

The new welding shop was a good investment, he said. Some days it is used from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. between the full-time classes he teaches, evening programs and some weekend and summertime training.

Students learn how to use the equipment and also learn skills like reading a blueprint, applied math and workplace dynamics, Rogers said.

The goal is to become a certified combination welder and step into an entry-level welder position. At that point, the employer can fine-tune their skills for the specific job in industries like oil and gas, construction and aviation.

“There’s always a demand for welders, and there’s always a shortage,” Rogers said.

Fidel Riojas, 19, comes from a family of welders, but a lot has changed since his grandfather learned the trade: namely, changes in technology and a greater emphasis on safety.

The 2015 Southeast High School graduate expects to complete the Metro Tech program in another year and begin a four-year apprenticeship to “learn as much about the business as I can.”

As a journeyman welder, he will be able to work anywhere in the country.

“You can go really big,

really small with it. It’s always going to be around,” Riojas said.

“Any big buildings that they put up, there’s always going to be tons of weld on it. They need a lot of skilled people,” he said.

Or he could go small and work in a shop making a product. He likes the flexibility and options that will be available to him.

Companies contact Metro Tech looking to fill welder positions but also to set up training for current employees in areas such as continuing education, use of new equipment and safety certification, Rogers said.

Some of his students start with the welding program, then move into supervisor or inspector positions related to the industry.

“I love seeing these guys develop,” he said. “It’s really nice to see them come back and they’re making money, they’re making a good living for their family, and they have a business that they like.”

CareerTech doesn’t have to take the place of college, Rogers said.

“Over the years, it’s gotten to where they very much complement each other,” he said.

That was his path.

Rogers got his training at Moore Norman Technology Center and worked in the ironworkers union for a few years, traveling around the country and putting up buildings.

He also earned two college degrees and has used all that experience as a welding instructor for the past eight years.

“In a lot of industries, it’s good to have both. If you’re going to be an electrical engineering, where better to start off as than an electrician?” Rogers said Student can complete the electrical program at CareerTech while in high school and then continuing with their college plans.

“It’s guaranteed to make them a better engineer,” he said.

Fidel Riojas works on a project at Metro Tech’s South Bryant Campus in Oklahoma City.

LPN students Sabrina Humphries, left, and Breanna Butcher check the vitals on a patient simulator at Metro Tech Health Careers Center in Oklahoma City. [PHOTOS BY STEVE GOOCH, THE OKLAHOMAN]

A ‘STEPPING STONE’ IN LIFELONG CAREER IN HEALTH CARE Student practical nurses work with lifelike mannequins in the simulation lab of the Health Careers Center on the Springlake Campus.

“The mannequin has lung sounds, bowel sounds, heart sounds, pulses in the arms and legs,” said Josie Scott, simulation lab coordinator. “I can make adjustments to any of that as we go.”

She also can make the mannequin talk.

The students take what they have learned in theory and bring it into the lab to interact with their “patients,” Scott said.

They practice both administering care and patient teaching, or explaining to a patient what they are doing.

“We’re bringing a lot of what we learned out in the industry here in the ‘sim’ lab,” Scott said.

That includes mistakes.

“We can make the patient respond just like it would in real life to medicine. So if they give the wrong thing, we can make them crash,” Scott said.

That provides a critical learning moment in a safe environment, instructor Toni Brinkley said.

When a mistake happens, the student must learn how to stay calm and think it through, asking herself how do I fix it, how do I report it, Brinkley said.

The simulations not only teach students how to deal with errors, but how to catch them before they happen.

Observation is a big part of patient care, Scott said.

When a nurse enters a room, she needs to notice what’s not right.

Scott sets up scenarios to see if the students catch things like if the patient is getting the wrong IV fluid, if the bed side rail is down, if the call button is not within the patient’s reach or if something is on the floor that could cause the patient to trip and fall.

Time management also is huge, Brinkley said.

Students are given two patients to care for in a limited time, then three patients. It teaches them to recognize priorities.

Sabrina Humphries and Breanna Butcher are stu-

A patient simulator mannequin makes sounds and talks to help teach LPN students.

dents in the practical nursing program.

Butcher, 21, saw the program advertised on a billboard.

“I researched their pass rate and saw they were really high, and that’s what brought me here,” she said.

Brinkley said 94 percent of the students who complete the 12-month program pass the LPN certification.

“The technology here does help,” Butcher said.

“The simulation lab and the mannequins here are very advanced.”

She wants to work with

infants in a neonatal intensive care unit.

“They’re so helpless and someone needs to be their advocate,” Butcher said. “I feel compelled to be there for them when no one else is there.”

Humphries, 29, said her whole family is in the health field, but she started out as a paralegal before changing her mind.

Like Butcher, she works as a certified nurse aide while attending classes.

“I really like the ER and the pace of the ER,” Humphries said. “It’s different every day.”

The most challenging thing for her is working full-time overnight and attending classes during the day.

“At least twice a week, I come straight to class,” she said.

After earning their LPN certification, both women plan to study to become registered nurses.

“This will work in their career ladder in our RN community colleges,” Brinkley said.

Students often can work as LPNs and make enough money to put themselves through college.

Brinkley said she and other faculty members went to CareerTech after high school and then on to community college and a university to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

“We really believe in that system. For people who don’t have the money just to go to a university, this is really a good way to financially get themselves through college,” she said.

“The faculty considers it as a stepping stone for their education because education is lifelong, and that is one of our goals here at Metro Tech.”

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EDUCATORS

STEM teacher shortage persists

BY ADAM KEMP Staff Writer akemp@oklahoman.com

When Quinton Hughes looked around his engineering classes at the University of Oklahoma in the early 2000s, he struggled to find anyone that looked like him.

Hughes, now 33, works at Northeast Academy and Douglass High School as part of the schools’ Gear Up program, a competitive grant program of the U.S. Department of Education that seeks to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter college.

His goal now is to encourage students, especially minorities like himself, to seek a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Hughes earned his master’s degree in engineering education and wants to help encourage students to enter a STEM field.

He knows that he often questioned his place in the engineering field because there were so few black people, but his mentors helped push him through.

“I wanted to see more people that look like me succeeding,” Hughes said. “I learned the best thing I could do was get back to the younger students and encourage them to enter these fields and help guide them through.”

Nationwide, the number of students planning on entering a STEM program in college is shrinking every year. The number of minority students is on an even worse path.

The U.S. may be short as many as 3 million high-skilled work-

ers by 2018. Two-thirds of those jobs will require at least some post-secondary education, according to the National Math and Science Initiative.

Oklahoma is expected to produce about 6,700 STEM-related job openings in each of the next 10 years. In that same period, more than half of the current STEM workforce is expected to retire or leave the state. But just 5,300 STEM students graduated from state colleges in 2011.

“We simply aren’t producing enough workers who have those skills to do those jobs,” Bob Funk, founder of Express Employment Professionals, a temporary staffing company, said in October.

HELPING MINORITIES A 2013 National Math and Science Initiative study showed only 44 percent of U.S. high school graduates that year were ready for college-level math. However, only 12 percent of black students and 17 percent of Hispanic students took algebra I before high school in 2009. Conversely, 48 percent of Asian students took algebra I before high school in 2009.

Hughes was always good at math at his high school in Little Rock, Ark. Still, it was a shock going from the friendly high school confines where he was a top student to one of many students in the large courses at OU. Hughes said minority STEM teachers are better able to relate material in ways that minority students might better understand.

“It’s very discouraging to not understand the basic concepts that others around you seem to

understand,” Hughes said. “If you’ve never been encouraged to understand what you don’t know, it can be even tougher because you will drown in the work.”

STANDING OUT In August, Norman High School special education teacher Shawn Sheehan was named the 2016 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year. Sheehan, 30, was born in the Philippines and adopted into an Irish-American family.

He teaches math to teenagers with learning disabilities. He has since tried to use his position as Teacher of the Year to advocate for better teacher pay in the state, another problem on the long list of reasons Oklahoma has a shortage of not only teachers, but STEM teachers.

“Right now I’m in the spotlight, but I really want to share it,” Sheehan said in August.

To help current STEM educators, the state partnered with local industry leaders to invite 81 teachers to participate in a threeday training program where they learned how professionals at the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Devon, The Boeing Co. and Tinker Air Force Base use the fields in their everyday work.

Hughes said he’s unfamiliar with problems statewide, but said the Oklahoma City Public Schools district lacks not only minority STEM teachers, but minority teachers in general.

“We haven’t arrived in terms of STEM education,” he said.

“There is a long way to go. But we are working to get there.”

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

‘Pipeline’ puts bilingual teachers in OKC classes

BY TIM WILLERT Staff Writer twillert@oklahoman.com

Linda and Alexiss Lopez are on the ground floor of a pilot program designed to put more bilingual teachers in Oklahoma City classrooms.

Mother and daughter work at Hawthorne Elementary School on the city’s northwest side, where they assist young Hispanic students with English.

“When they’re new, they don’t speak any English, so we help them learn the language,” said Linda Lopez, who works with firstgraders but also helps teachers and parents with translation. “We help the kids move up. We help them learn what they need to learn to be on (grade level).”

Alexiss, who works with prekindergarten students, and Linda both aspire to be more than paraprofessionals. Both want to teach at Hawthorne, where 80 percent of the school’s 660 students are Hispanic and there is only one bilingual teacher.

“I feel like I need to be there to help them so they can become better with a second language,” Alexiss said.

“It’s a barrier, but they can break it.”

Linda shares a similar desire to help children become more proficient English speakers.

“There are a lot of Hispanics and I see the kids, they have such a hard time (with the language),” she said. “I think I am able to help them because I am bilingual.”

Neither can afford to

finish college, though — a problem for many bilingual paraprofessionals in a school district where half of the 46,000 students are Hispanic.

That’s where the Bilingual Teacher Pipeline Project comes in.

The program, launched recently by the Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools, pays for district paraprofessionals who speak English and Spanish to go to college to become certified teachers.

The program not only fills a need for bilingual teachers, it addresses the current teacher shortage while investing in Oklahoma City residents, according to Mary Melon, the foundation’s president and chief executive officer.

“The district has done a lot of good work recruiting bilingual teachers from other markets and from Puerto Rico and Spain, but we really like the idea of growing our own,” she said.

The foundation is partnering with the University of Central Oklahoma, where several participants, including Linda and Alexiss, began classes Jan. 11.

Eventually, those with little or no college education will attend Oklahoma City Community College, Rose State College and Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City for two years before finishing at UCO, according to Jim Machell, dean of the College of Education and Professional Studies at UCO. “The people in this program are already part of the community, so the chances of them becoming teachers and remaining teachers for a long time is much greater,” Machell said.

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EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION IN EDUCATION

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In and out of costume, teacher’s many roles play part in school’s turnaround

BY TIM WILLERT Staff Writer twillert@oklahoman.com

Bodine Elementary School Principal Nikki Coshow probably wishes she could clone fourthgrade teacher Ryan Schweikhart.

Schweikhart is a fixture at Bodine, which as recently as three years ago had more students suspended for violence than any other school in the Oklahoma City district.

It was a dark time for the school on the city’s south side.

Morale was low. Students were not focused on learning. Parents did not feel welcome. Teachers and administrators walked out, some voluntarily.

Schweikhart, 38, was not among them.

“I felt really needed here,” he said recently.

Coshow, who was elevated from assistant principal to principal in the aftermath, is glad Schweikhart didn’t abandon the school, which serves about 600 low-income mostly minority children.

“He had such pride in the kids and the neighborhood,” she recalled. “He didn’t want to leave; he wanted to stay and turn the school around.”

SCHOOL’S RENAISSANCE Now in his seventh year at the school, Schweikhart has played a major role in Bodine’s renaissance. The former Navy electronics technician uses professionalism, understanding and humor to engage students, parents and teachers.

“They feel welcomed,” he said of parents. “They’re part of our school. We’re not putting up walls anymore.”

Schweikhart is known

Ryan Schweikhart has taught at Bodine Elementary School in Oklahoma City for seven years. [PHOTO BY STEVE GOOCH, THE OKLAHOMAN]

by co-workers as a “superhero freak” by co-workers and likes to surprise his students by dressing up as different characters.

“There was a masked hero called the fraction ninja who turned off all the lights and came tumbling into the classroom in a ninja outfit and ran around the classroom,” he recalled. “A lot of people said it looked like me.”

Another time, he dressed up as the main character from the book: “There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly.” Coshow was going to play the part, but couldn’t make it. So Schweikhart stepped in.

“He didn’t even blink,” she said. “One of his stu-

dents said ‘that lady goes to my church.’”

Schweikhart was that convincing. His antics are one reason his classrooms boast some of the building’s highest attendance rates.

“The kids don’t want to miss out,” Coshow said.

Another reason? Schweikhart encourages communication. His students are among Bodine’s chattiest.

“Even though I look professional, inside the classroom the kids know who I am and what they can get away with and what they can’t,” he said. “I encourage talking ... but I take that opportunity to listen to what the kids are saying and kind of pick up on what

Advocate for profession goes beyond classroom

BY TIM WILLERT Staff Writer twillert@oklahoman.com

Oklahoma’s 2016 Teacher of the Year longs to return to the classroom.

Since receiving the award in August, Shawn Sheehan has traveled across Oklahoma on behalf of the state Education Department, promoting the teaching profession at every stop.

Life as an education ambassador has pulled Sheehan, 30, in many different directions. Mostly, it has taken him away from his students at Norman High School, where he teaches math to teenagers with learning disabilities.

“Personally, I’ve learned that I am meant to be in the classroom,” he said recently. “Being away from the kids has proved that’s what I want to do, that’s where I want to be.”

Sheehan, however, may not return to the classroom any time soon.

The first teacher from the Norman school district to win the state award since 1966 is one of four finalists for 2016 National Teacher of the Year.

If Sheehan is selected later this month, he would become the first Oklahoma teacher in 52 years to receive the award and would continue his work on a national level.

Sheehan and the other finalists, who hail from California, Connecticut and Washington, traveled to Washington, D.C., in February to interview with the selection committee.

“It was clear why they picked the four of us,” he

Shawn Sheehan

said. “None of us are status quo educators. We are all distinctly different.”

Since being named state Teacher of the Year, Sheehan has focused his efforts on the statewide teacher shortage by promoting the value of the profession.

He is the founder of the national “Teach Like Me” campaign, which strives to improve teacher recruitment and retention by redefining the public’s perception of the profession.

Sheehan regularly extends encouragement to other teachers across Oklahoma and college students considering a career in education.

“They are doing amazing work with very little resources,” he said of teachers. “It’s unfortunate that we have to do so much with so little, but it’s a real testament to the type of teachers we have in this state.”

Sheehan said Oklahoma teachers are among the best in the country, despite “the kind of message that’s out there.”

“I want to continue to redefine the perceptions of our profession, but I also

want to professionalize our work,” he said. “I think we can elevate the profession to the same kind of regard that we hold doctors and lawyers. I think if we can do that we can (minimize) the lack of respect that’s out there.”

Sheehan, meanwhile, is backing an initiative drive being led by University of Oklahoma President David Boren, who advocates a penny increase in the state sales tax to raise money for education.

Oklahoma is No. 1 in cuts to education and 49th in the amount invested per child, Boren has said.

Campaign workers have until May 16 to collect the roughly 124,000 signatures needed to put the question on the November ballot.

A ‘yes’ vote would generate about $615 million annually to go into the Oklahoma Education Improvement Fund. Nearly 70 percent of the money would go to K-12 schools.

Much of that would fund a $5,000 raise for teachers statewide.

Sheehan called the initiative “a sign of hope.”

“Teachers need hope,” he said. “There is hope that things will get better for us.”

They also need help, which is why Sheehan and about 29 other educators recently filed paperwork to run for the state Senate and House of Representatives.

Sheehan filed as an independent candidate for the state Senate District 15 seat.

“Change needs to happen,” he said.

they’re interested in and what they are learning.”

Schweikhart also knows what it’s like to come from a home where parents are

absent or struggling to be supportive.

“We didn’t have a lot growing up,” he recalled.

“When I got birthday

money, that birthday money would go to feeding the family for a month. So it was a struggle a lot of times.”

Because his experiences mirrored those of his students, he can relate to what they’re going through.

“It takes understanding.

You can’t just walk into a classroom and expect them to listen,” he said.

“These kids, they’ve had it rough and they need to know that somebody loves them in the classroom.”

Coshow, meanwhile, is about to lose her golden boy. Schweikhart recently completed a masters program in education administration, and is shadowing Coshow as a principal intern.

He has set his sights high, which means he will be leaving the building in search of a another leadership role.

“I told him I’m going to miss him as much as he deserves the opportunity to lead a building,” Coshow said.

Assistant Principal Michele Rodriguez calls Schweikhart “simply amazing.”

“We hate to lose Ryan as a classroom teacher,” she said, “but he will be an asset to any building he goes to as an assistant.”

16

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2016

EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION IN EDUCATION

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

Charter school principal works to raise bar

BY TIM WILLERT Staff Writer twillert@oklahoman.com

Principal Yunus Bicici runs Dove Science Academy out of an old building on NW 23 that once housed a nightclub and a gym.

Hardly what you would call a foundation for academic success.

Yet Dove, a public charter school that serves mostly minority students from low-income families, thrives.

The school, which offers a range of college preparatory programs in science, mathematics and technology, was named best in Oklahoma by U.S. News & World Report for 2015.

The publication evaluated more than 29,000 public high schools across the country using four categories: studentteacher ratio, college readiness, math proficiency and reading proficiency. Dove finished No. 684 in the national rankings.

Nearly 70 percent of students take Advanced Placement course work and exams and 100 percent of student are proficient in math, according to the survey.

Bixby High School was ranked No. 2 in Oklahoma. Adair High School finished third.

ACADEMIC RIGOR About 500 students in grades six through 12 attend Dove Science Academy, which is run by the nonprofit Sky Foundation.

Much of the credit for Dove’s success goes to Bicici, a Turkish-born educator who worked for school districts in Dallas and New Orleans before becoming Dove’s principal in 2010.

“Each year, I’m trying to raise the bar,” he said recently. “I have high expectations for this school.”

Bicici has strengthened Dove’s curriculum by increasing the number of Advanced Placement courses it offers its students.

The tuition-free school also offers classes that include Principles of Biomedical Sciences as well as concurrent enrollment in speech, psychology and sociology.

In addition to academic rigor, Dove also emphasizes social/emotional growth and character development.

Students can play intramural sports and participate in clubs that include drama, karaoke, gaming, film, robotics, crochet and chess.

They are encouraged to be leaders and give back to the community by volunteering their time. Students say a culture of acceptance and inclusion abounds on campus.

DID YOU KNOW? •Charter schools are publicly funded schools of choice that are operated by independent boards and sponsored in Oklahoma by school districts, colleges, universities and tribal governments.

•Charters have been released from some of the regulations governing traditional public schools, tend to have limited enrollment and usually accept students through an application process.

Principal Yunus Bicici [PHOTO BY STEVE GOOCH, THE OKLAHOMAN]

“I see what Dove is and I see how great it is for the student body,” said Gabriela Rueda, a junior whose favorite subject is science and who hopes to one day become a doctor.

Gabriela and four others — Luisamaria Rubio, Eleana Cabello, Madeleine Freeman and Mariana Serrato — recently received medals for voluntary public service, personal development and physical fitness.

They were recognized in March by U.S. Rep. Steve Russell, R-Oklahoma City.

Gabriela, who enrolled as a sixthgrader, said the interaction between teachers and students sets Dove apart from traditional public schools.

“All of our teachers are engaged with us,” she said. “If you have any problems, even if it’s not the subject itself, you can go to them. I feel like that communication ... is what makes Dove different.”

Bicici said teacher dedication is a key factor in Dove Science Academy’s perfect graduation and college acceptance rates.

“They stay an extra hour sometimes. If they’re needed, they come on Saturdays for tutoring,” he said. “Whenever students need help, they come and dedicate their time. So this is my expectation.”

Founded in 2001, Dove has two schools in Oklahoma City and two schools in Tulsa — one for kindergarten through fifth grades and another for sixth through 12th grades. With one teacher for every 18 students, Dove offers a hands-on approach that allows for individual focus.

“You don’t have to be smart, you just have to want it,” Gabriela said. “Our teachers will give you the smarts.”

In January, the Oklahoma State Regents

for Higher Education honored Dove Science Academy for having the most graduates (26) who successfully completed the Oklahoma’s Promise program (Class 2A).

The state program pays college tuition for students from families with an annual income of $50,000 or less who meet aca-

demic requirements. It was the fourth straight championship for Dove.

Despite the school’s success, Bicici said there is always room for improvement.

“Each year, I want to do more for our students,” he said. “I am always open to new ideas.”

THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM

EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION IN EDUCATION

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2016

17

ATHLETICS AND EDUCATION

Organizations pitch in for Fields & Futures Tim McLaughlin started Fields & Futures in 2012 with a simple but significant vision — renovate every athletic field in the Oklahoma City Public School district.

All 44 of them.

Only four years later, the nonprofit organization is almost halfway to that number.

And yet, in overhauling so many fields at high schools and middle schools all over the city, Fields & Futures found other needs. Coaches needed help. Kids needed equipment. Families needed resources. So even though Fields & Futures still has the same So, 20 fields will be done by year’s end?

That’s the plan with a little cooperation from Mother Nature.

How does hitting that mark of 20 feel?

Feels like we’re making a lot of accomplishments but still have a long ways to go. I’ll equate this to a soccer game — it just feels like we’re deep in the first half. We’ve learned a lot, and we need to make some adjustments and go harder.

How was that sports analogy? (Laughs) That was strong. I know that while new projects are under way at Roosevelt Middle School and Star Spencer, some projects have been done long enough that you’re starting to get data and feedback on the impact.

What are you learning there?

It’s a lot of validation.

I think we all knew what the impacts were, but we didn’t have it measured. Now having it measured gives you that validation that, “OK, we are on that right track.”

But now we just want to go harder and faster because we know the impact that it can have, not only in those schools but in those communities.

Every year we can’t get to someone because we haven’t raised the funds or whatever the case is,

then we feel like we’re missing out on some impact we can provide.

That’s really the thrill, when you get to see the community engaging the facility. Not just the school. The community.

You’re already seeing things like higher graduation rates, higher gradepoint averages, higher attendance numbers, right?

When we got to see those numbers, oh my gosh, it’s like, “OK, this is even better than we thought.” That 99 percent graduation rate that honestly says it all. That’s what we’re working toward. That’s the end game. Let’s get them graduated, then get these communities back in these schools to assist and help out. It just brings the swag back for everybody.

That high of a graduation rate already at the schools with new fields?

Wow. (Oklahoma City Public Schools athletics director) Keith Sinor was right.

This is his baby. We were fortunate we were chosen to help him get the mission moving forward.

The core vision for Fields & Futures remains the same, but how you’re doing things has changed somewhat. Like you partnered with BALTO,

the big annual fundraiser done by students at Edmond North High School, to raise funds for Roosevelt. Like the new youth leagues done with the Police Athletic League. What has gone through your mind as you’ve watched the evolution?

We’re a pretty good team of problem-solvers.

Not that we can solve ’em all, don’t get me wrong.

But a lot of these things aren’t that complicated.

It’s about providing some resources where needed, whether that’s monetary or some different life experiences that can be applied to a situation.

Within our team, there’s a pretty good sense of, “Hey, we can help solve problems, and we can provide resources, and we can remove obstacles.”

For instance, one of the things that was prohibiting participation in athletics in Oklahoma City schools was everybody had to have a physical, and it was $10 for a physical. We put our team together, got together with a great group of folks from OU Physicians Center working with the county health and wellness, and provided over 600 free physicals so those kids could play.

And the little league, we’re really thrilled with how that’s going, but that generated off of sitting down with our coaches’

vision, its impact has deepened.

And the ultimate goal of more kids reaping the benefits of sports — better grades, higher attendance and fewer dropouts — is already happening.

McLaughlin says none of it would’ve been possible without the help of so many people, and that leaves him in awe and with a sense of deep gratitude.

McLaughlin recently spoke with The Oklahoman’s Jenni Carlson about what’s been done and what’s ahead. advisory panel and asking the questions, “What needs to be done? What can we do next? What makes an impact?” It came back to, “We need a little league.” Everybody’s just kind of taken a piece of it. Parks and Rec doesn’t have to make profit. PAL can fundraise and provide coaching and other resources.

Fields & Futures maintains the fields. Then the Wes Welker Foundation comes in and provides

soccer goals or whatever we’re missing. Then Cleats 4 Kids comes in and provides the footwear. It’s neat how everybody’s taken a piece, and the end result is, we took the cost out of all of it. We just started the soccer league with PAL — 500 kids were out there.

What do you think is next for Fields & Futures?

Obviously, we have to continue to ramp up our fundraising so we can

complete our 24 fields.

But I think we’ll get a little more proactive with the communities that we’re working with in the future to really engage them and really make them more of the process. ... I think we’ll go out and really pull together stakeholders in those communities and really get them part of the process. I think everyone will benefit in the long run that way.

— JENNI CARLSON

18

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2016

THE OKLAHOMAN

NEWSOK.COM