Kurt Thomas, superintendent of Chisholm Trail Technology Center, was the guest speaker at the Sept. 6 meeting of the Kingfisher County Retired Educators Association held at Kingfi sher Memorial Library.

Thomas opened the meeting by sharing the results of a California study that followed 100 ninth grade students over a period of time.

Regarding those 100 students :

• 31 dropped out of school, stating that school was boring and irrelevant

• 42 graduated from high school and entered the workforce or elsewhere.

• 27 graduated from high school and enrolled in college.

Regarding the 27 students who enrolled in college, 10 eventually dropped out and never graduated.

Of the 27 students who attended college, 10 graduated but were “under- employed,” working in low-paying jobs or alternate career fields.

Of the 27 students who attended college, seven graduated and were employed in well-paying, successful careers.

Career counseling and technology training could have benefited many of the students in this study, thus increasing their chances of obtaining well-paying employment, Thomas told the group, CTTC is one of the 29 technology centers in Oklahoma accredited by the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology. Its also the smallest.

This year’s enrollment is up 50 students from the previous school year due to the inclusion of the Thomas-Fay-Custer school district, which opted to join CTTC in 2023.

Other partner schools include Watonga, Lomega, Kingfisher and Dover.

Over 200 students are currently being served by CTTC, consisting of high school juniors and seniors as well as 13th-year students who were seniors when they started in the vocational programs.

The only exception is the pre-engineering program, which begins at the sophomore level.

There is currently a waiting list of students wanting to join the school, Thomas said. There are also adult classes in addition to the regular programs for high school-level students.

Statewide, there is a waiting list of over 10,000 students who want to join Oklahoma’s vocational and technology programs, he said.

CTTC offers nine programs and half of the school has been recently renovated.

Regarding new programs at CTTC, a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) program was recently instituted at the school with assistance from a neighboring business, allowing the school to utilize their lot for hands-on driver’s training.

This is a 28-day training program that offers the possibility of immediate employment in Kingfisher and Blaine counties.

Another new program is expanding the existing cabinetry program to a construction program, where electrical trade classes could be taught at the school.

Thomas urged those who are interested in learning more about the school to visit the school’s website (www.cttc.edu) for more information and also to contact the school directly by phone at 405-729-8324 to set up a personal tour of the facility.

In other business, Oklahoma Retired Educators Association Northwest District Director Joy Dennis reported that the state OREA convention will be held Oct. 3.

She provided an overview of the convention plans and things happening within the OREA board and with the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

LaRita Sipe reminded the group to prepare for National Education Week to celebrate teachers and staff members working in public education.

Last year, KCREA delivered to 18 different school buildings within the county.

The next KCREA meeting will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, at the Kingfisher Memorial Library.

The guest speakers scheduled to present are State Sen. Darcy Jech and State Rep. Mike Dobrinski.