It was a jaw-dropping moment when Gov. Kevin Stitt asked School Superintendent Dr. Mike Woods if State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister knew about the tech programs used in our Hennessey schools.

For a split second Mike (I’m on a firstname basis with him) looked as if he was at loss for words (which is unusual for him), then said, “It’s out there,” and named a couple of providers whose names I didn’t write down.

That happened Friday morning while Mike showed the governor and some of his staffers how students in our virtual classes could see and hear their teachers in real time on their laptops at home. Or even their cell phones. Yes, cell phones! Virtual students may

Virtual students may interact with their teacher just as the classroom students, Mike said. But if the at-home student’s dog starts to bark then the teacher could mute that student from the rest of the class. Or, if that virtual student became disruptive the teacher could mute him/her, or tune them out from the in-person classroom.

Mike did a superior job of explaining how everything worked, but what would you expect from a guy with a 2010 Ph.D. from OU that includes instructional technology?

He also showed the guv (I’m not ready to call him Kevin) that classroom students could see what’s going on in Beirut at that exact minute.

School in Hennessey had started the day before so Mike gave four or five classrooms of students the opportunity to interact with the governor while he was in The Dome’s (Event Center’s) conference room and could see them on a big screen.

I was in awe of the technology that Mike demonstrated. He’d talked about it at school board meetings, but seeing it in action was way cool.

The governor and his communications people also couldn’t believe that the two-story structure was inflated with air then reinforced with concrete. The capabilities inside the school’s $8.4 million 30,000 sq. ft. Dome also stunned them.

The guv said he didn’t think he’d seen anything like it in a 6A school, or even in some colleges.

His aides were also surprised with the technology, large display screens, walking trail, elevator, and that the school has a full-time athletic trainer.

One of his people bounced the governor a basketball while they toured a locker room, and again later on the court set up for volleyball. Surprise! The guv hit a two.

Natch, I missed that photo, but was told his office heard about our facilities when they were in Kingfisher. So when they were scheduled to go to Enid that Friday afternoon that Hennessey was “on the way.”

I’d wanted to ask the governor if they’d driven to Hennessey via SH 51 since I’ve complained about its condition for years. But I chickened out since I’d already greeted our State Sen. Chuck Hall (R-Perry) that morning on that subject.

Chuck said he’s still working on it.

I didn’t ask our newly-elected representative, Mike Dobrinski (R-Okeene), who was also there. I’m guessing he has traveled that two-lane highway east of Hennessey often and knows how chewed up it is, and the need for shoulders.

I might wait until Mike (Dobrinski) gets sworn in before I use friend John’s line about SH 51. John says, “It should be fourlaned and paved in gold because of the billions of dollars the state has made in all the oil that’s been hauled on that highway!”

Do I hear an Amen?