The Main Building received a new $13,000 sanitary sewer lift station over the Fourth of July weekend said Building Maintenance and Operations Supervisor Gary Belcher.

The lift station and pumps take portions of drainage and sewer water from different areas on campus at lower elevations and lift them up so they can to drain properly until they reach the city sewage system, Belcher said.

Money for the lift station came from the campus repair and remodel budget, Belcher said.

OCCC Student Emergency Medical Technology Association members and Emergency Medical Services department staff competed and participated in the National EMS Memorial Bike Ride last month in Colorado, said Emergency Medical Sciences Director Leaugeay Barnes.

She said the team included EMS majors Melissa Vice, Megan Pfieffer, Brett Colclasure, Seth Clark, and Bill Greyson.

Barnes said she and Shelly Troxel-Tevis, Affiliation Compliance administrator, accompanied the students.

English Professor Bertha Wise was recently selected as one of 50 professors from across the nation to attend a workshop to learn about the Ponca, Pawnee and Omaha Native American tribes.

Wise attended National Endowment for the Humanities, a grant funded workshop for community college faculty June 20 through 25 at Central Community College in Columbus, Neb.

She was selected as one of 50 from 98 applicants from across the nation. Wise said the group of 50 was then divided into two groups of 24 and 26.

An OCCC student from India will team up with an Iowa State University engineering professor to tour the most prominent colleges of India, speaking to students, teachers and government officials.

Akash Patel is a promising young motivational speaker from Nasik, India, according to an article in the Ames Tribune.

Patel said he recently transferred from Iowa State University to OCCC.

He will accompany Carolyn Heising, an Iowa State engineering professor and nuclear scientist who worked as a federal engineer under the Clinton administration.

A group of fourth and fifth graders in the College for Kids Musical Theatre Camp produced and performed “Cinderella” June 25 in the OCCC Bruce Owen Theater, said Joe Salter, class instructor.

Salter said seven musical numbers, including solo performances and group ensembles, were performed during the show. He said each musical number was accompanied by dancing.

An audience filled with parents, family members and friends cheered on the children during the 45-minute show.

OCCC Counselor Jenna Howard said more than 50 percent of the students who come to her asking for advice do so because they are stressed out over financial troubles — much of that caused by credit card debt.

“I think a lot of people in debt feel like they’re in a hole they can’t dig out of,” Howard said.

Children in OCCC’s Child Development Center and Lab School are learning about light and shadow, hats, pets and senses this week, said Lisa Jones, Early Childhood Development teacher.

The center is divided into four classes, Preschool A and B, and Infant and Toddler A and B, Jones said.

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

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

She said she took over the lab, which is located in the Main Building near the OCCC Coffee Shop, two years ago and transformed it into a friendlier environment.

Kymes said she will miss working with the staff and students.

“If you can leave with things being better because you were there, that is really all you can hope for,” she said.

The Child Development Center and Lab School will host its annual Christmas in July event July 17 at the Ronald McDonald house in Oklahoma City.

Christmas in July is an event where children bring donations in the form of household items their families have collected to the Ronald McDonald House, said CDCLS Director Lee Ann Townsend.

The Ronald McDonald House provides a home away from home for families with sick or injured children, she said.

Chris Snow, Facilities Management assistant director, was awarded the Certified Educational Facilities Professional certification from the Association of Physical Plant Administrators on June 2.

APPA International is an organization dedicated to maintaining, protecting and promoting the quality of educational facilities around the world.

Snow, who began the certification program in January 2005, said he joins an elite group with this award.

Only two other members of APPA have achieved this certification, said Snow’s boss, Facilities Management Director J.B. Messer.