Students who receive help from Communications Lab Supervisor Tonya Kymes will soon have to find someone new to help them overcome writing challenges.

On July 30, Kymes will leave the lab to take an English teaching position at the college.

In 2008, she said, she took over the lab and transformed it into a friendlier environment.

This summer’s College for Kids and Teens program is progressing smoothly, said Jessica Martinez-Brooks, Community Outreach and Education director.

College for Kids and Teens is a summer program created by OCCC to give children and teens something educational and fun to do during the summer.

“We are receiving positive feedback from parents on the College for Kids and Teens program,” Martinez-Brooks said. “The children seem to be enjoying the classes.”

OCCC international students now have a college-sponsored social networking site to sign up for, said Sunny Garner, International Services coordinator.

International Student Connection is a website which can help students overcome the shock of coming to a new country, Garner said.

“If you’re coming from Asia or Africa and you don’t know anything about the school, then (the site is) a way for you to meet individuals and make connections before you arrive,” she said.

Students of the Family and Community Education Center were forced to leave the building when a child accidentally set off a fire alarm pull station June 9 at the center.

“One of the kids bumped into [the pull station] coming in from outside recess,” Director of Community Outreach and Education Jessica Martinez-Brooks said.

Brannon Dresel, Community Education coordinator, said the child then accidentally set off the main fire alarm as he was trying to reset the activated pull station.

Students will see an increase in their fall 2010 tuition bills, but for those receiving Pell grants or in the Oklahoma’s Promise program, there will be extra money to cover it, said Harold Case, Student Financial Support Services dean.

The college will award up to $200 more in Pell grant money per student, Case said. He said the money will help offset the tuition hike.

The fountain in the middle of the retention pond at the corner of SW 74th Street and May Avenue broke recently and won’t be fixed for a while, said J.B. Messer, Facilities Management director.

The fountain, which was installed in 2005 and cost $13,605, had a pump motor that stopped working for an unknown reason, he said.

The college’s Retention Alert computer system — an online program that helps teachers target students who are in danger of failing out of college — has been successful, said Mary Turner, Learning Support specialist.

Since its installation in fall 2009, Turner said, the college has seen a 300-percent increase in the number of students being contacted because they seemed academically or emotionally at risk.