Taking a classroom to a real-world setting isn’t easy but when done correctly it’s a win-win for the student and the business. OTC’s culinary arts program has taken its first step in offering students that practical work experience this summer in an arrangement reached between the college and owner of Vintage Veranda Team Room at…
Sarah Byrd would like to be a chef who teaches as well as cooks for people so they can learn and appreciate the healthy side of food. “My goal is community outreach and educating people,” the 23-year-old OTC culinary arts student said. But first, Byrd will pack her knives and lead a contingent of 24…
With the opening of summer semester classes today, the OTC Mobile Hearing Lab will prepare to go on the road to offer hearing instrument science training to students at St. Charles Community College and at OTC. The mobile lab was developed through a grant from the federal Department of Labor. A grant from Gov. Jay Nixon’s Training for Tomorrow paid for…
Nigel Holderby will never forget the events of July 8, 2011, that changed his life and his career forever. Even today, as Holderby ponders the incident, the OTC graduate gets a hitch in his voice as emotions bubble up. “That one event altered my future,” he said speaking for students in a speech he gave…
Two years ago, Amado Antonini and his brother, Ronald, came to Ozarks Technical Community College from Venezuela to get their GED. Now, after two years in the College’s Honors program, Amado Antonini is about to continue on his dream to become an engineer. He received word by email earlier this month that he had been…
Dennis Peters, OTC’s Veteran Student Services representative, has a bullet from the Civil War sitting on his desk that he looks at every day. “It sits right under one of my monitors so, when I type, it is in my line of sight. It helps remind me that someone, somewhere is in a position to…
OTC instructor James Sheldon went out of his way recently to emphasize “long” in the term long-distance learning when he conducted a class from the Bahamas last week with his students who were sitting in a science lab at the Richwood Valley campus. Shelton, who teaches environmental science and biology, was in the Bahamas earning…
Anyone heading out to a job interview wants to look their best to make a good impression but so some, owning a professional outfit can be a challenge. But a group at Ozarks Technical Community College is trying to assist those in need of professional clothing with a drive to collect suits, dressing shirts, dresses…
When the lights go up later this month on OTC’s presentation of “Clue: The Musical,” there will be some deep sighs of relief. The effort of the College’s Fine Arts Department to put on its first musical production in six years of stage performances has been filled with lots of hard work by students and…
Nick Kennedy can’t remember the last time he went to the zoo. He thinks he might have been 7 or 8 years old. But Kennedy isn’t likely to forget his most recent trip to the Dickerson Park Zoo, which he took last week with other students in his OTC biology class for a behind-the-scenes look…
The fourth-annual OTC Community Day will offer visitors a chance to experience how to survive a zombie attack, donate to a worthy cause and check out the latest in beautifully restored cars and trucks. Community Day is April 27 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the OTC Springfield Campus. Dozens of programs will conduct…
Thanks to a new outreach pilot program, tutors from OTC’s Speckman Tutoring and Learning Center are expanding their services to younger students in need of a bit of assistance. Working in conjunction with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Springfield, a number of tutors from the tutoring center are spending several hours on Tuesdays helping students…
Students usually head to the library to find a required book or some other printed study materials. At the OTC Richwood Valley Campus learning resource center, anatomy students can now get the materials they need for their studies body parts. A number of body-part replicas are available for human anatomy classes offered at Richwood Valley…
WAYNESVILLE Rosalind Pride cant wait to welcome everyone to the new OTC Waynesville Center this fall. As the one and only director of the center since it opened in 2008, Pride is excited to see the center move into a more spacious building located just west of Waynesville High School along Interstate 44. “There will…
A humble Paul Sundy will accept the 2013 OTC Excellence in Business Award when its presented to him next month. “Obviously, there are a couple of folks who have received it who are in a category that I have aspired to be like. Its very humbling. I dont feel like Im there or even…
When Roger Gray speaks, he hopes people listen. The 73-year-old OTC student has been lending his rich, baritone voice to radio commercials and audio books for several years but recently enrolled at the college to expand his knowledge in audio engineering through the Electronic Media Program. “Hes been doing voice-over work at the house for…
OTC dental students are getting an intense lesson in providing patient care this week as they treat hundreds of poor villagers in a small Nicaraguan village. Six dental students and four dental program alumni, along with several faculty members and other supporters are in Nicaragua this week as part of dental mission trip organized by…
While the halls at OTC are filled with college students, there are a number of students who come to the college still enrolled in high school. Thanks to the OTC Career Center, they can get a jump on their college education. More than 500 students learn and develop skills in one of 19 technical education…
Becky Seiler sat down in front of a large video monitor on the second floor of the Graff Building at OTC and dialed the phone to call her mother. But instead of the call going directly to her mom, a young man appeared on the screen wearing a headset. Becky signed a message to the…
OTC’s fire science program is working to bring its students so close to firefighting training that they can see it and touch it. The program is gradually migrating its classes to the Springfield Fire Departments Engine House No. 6 of West Battlefield Road where the city’s Regional Training Center is also located. Former Springfield fire…
Start spreading the news the Ozarks Technical Community College Concert Choir and Chamber Singers are heading to New York City. The college’s vocal ensembles have been invited to participate in the Distinguished Concerts International New York Concert Series to be held Memorial Day weekend, which includes performing in Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. OTC’s…
When Michael Horn says he took the long road to earn his degree in culinary arts at OTC, he’s not exaggerating. Horn, a Jefferson City resident, traveled the 130-mile trip from the state capital to Springfield every Monday at 4:30 a.m., spent four or five days in classes and then drove home to share the…
To say that Rick Hughlett has been involved in Ozarks Technical Community College is quite an understatement. Even before the start of OTC, Mr. Hughlett was right there getting his formal automotive training at Graff Vocational Technical School, which later became OTC. He was on the Automotive Technology advisory board at Graff and then continued…
A collaboration by two OTC instructors, one in music and the other in art, has resulted in a unique music instruction book for those looking to learn to play the Native American flute. The Mel Bay-published book, “First Lessons Native American Flute: How to Sit on a Rock” was developed and written by music instructor Andrew…
Real-world experience is the best kind of experience students can get when learning about a profession. The OTC’s Electronic Media Production program is trying to bring some of that reality to its students. A major makeover of EMP’s TV production studio is scheduled to take place with the addition of a professional news studio set…