OCCC’s own Ruth Charnay and Rick Lippert will take the stage as two of the sanest characters in a houseful of crazy relatives when the dark comedy “August: Osage County” premieres at the Oklahoma City Repertory Theater on Oct. 7 and runs through Oct. 10.

Charnay works fulltime as department director of Communications and the Arts in the Arts and Humanities Division.

Her character in the play is Ivy, the quiet librarian who stayed close to home. She is the family caregiver in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Oklahoma playwright Tracy Letts.

At OCCC, accommodations are made for people with physical disabilities. Some of those are ramps, handicap parking and specially-designed desks and water fountains for those in wheelchairs or for those who may have trouble walking.

However, said Jenna Howard, licensed counselor and social worker in Student Support Services, some students have disabilities that aren’t as readily seen and those students need a helping hand as well.

Mental health disablilties are just as debilitating as physical ones, Howard said, and there is no shame in seeking help.

Building adaptive tools to solve daily-life problems for people with disabilities prompted second-year Occupational Therapy Assistant students to show their work to beginners in the program.

New students in the Occupational Therapy Assistant program observed demonstrations of adaptive equipment at an expo held in the corridor of the Health Professions building Sept. 21, said OTA Director Tom Kraft.

Program faculty defended recent graduates in the Occupational Therapy Assistant program who scored below the national average on the licensure test for the first time in the history of the college.

The program was brought into the spotlight at a recent OCCC Regents meeting.

There, Stu Harvey, executive director of planning and research, reported OTA graduates had ranked below the national average for first-time certification pass rates.

A cast of four theater arts students will star in the production of “Waiting For Godot,” written by Samuel Beckett in 1948.

The play will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Oct. 7 through 9, in the Bruce Owen Theater.

The third week in September saw a string of stolen wallets all with similar characteristics.

At roughly 1:30 p.m. Sept. 13, OCCC student Amanda Coughlin reported her wallet and keys had been stolen from the Communications Lab, according to a report filed by Safety and Security Officer Sgt. Kevin Tipton.

Coughlin said she is certain she had the wallet when she entered the lab because she used her student ID to check in, Tipton said in the report.

Students planning to attend a university after leaving OCCC can meet representatives from four-year institutions at the Transfer Fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 29, in the Main Building.

Sara McElroy, Transferring and Academic Advising coordinator, said colleges from Oklahoma and nearby states will send representatives to give out information, answer questions, and help students go in the direction of their choice.

Young people between the ages of 14 and 22 have the highest rate of gambling problems, according to a recent study by the Annenberg Foundation.

This growing addiction is one reason OCCC is hosting a Brown Bag luncheon session to educate students about gambling issues, said Jenna Howard, Student Support Services counselor.

In conjunction with National Problem Gambling Awareness Week, the lecture will be from 12:30 to 1:20 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 28, in room CU1 in the College Union.

In a unanimous vote Sept. 20, the OCCC Board of Regents approved design plans for the new Performing Arts Theater.

The 1,000-seat theater will be built inside the U-shaped area formed by the classroom portion of the Visual and Performing Arts Center, extending out to the west with a foyer and entrance.

Almost all college campuses have students who are shocked by textbook prices and left wondering why books cost so much.

Some speculate the prices are high because publishers issue new textbooks more often than necessary, forcing students to always buy the higher-priced textbooks as opposed to buying used books which, typically, are significantly cheaper.