The OCCC Art Gallery, located in the Visual and Performing Arts Center, is hosting the 2010 Mixed Media Collage Juried Exhibition.The Exhibition showcases local artists who use mixed media.

Admission is free and runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m to 2 p.m. Saturday through July 22.

More than 100 students cheered their favorite FIFA World Cup soccer clubs last week in the College Union as part of a new Student Life offering.

“We are screening (the games) so that students either passing by or with a lunch break or whatever can sit down and watch the games,” Stephanie Baird, first year and Student Life Programs Coordinator said.

The games will be shown every class day through the first weeks in July. Admission is free.

The Fourth of July holiday offers several events in and around the metro area — from parades, carnivals and beauty pageants to fireworks shows.

Among many, four major events will be held in Oklahoma City the weekend of the fourth.

As the Fourth of July draws near, many will celebrate the occasion by lighting fireworks.

But when it comes to handling the explosive devices, Mustang Police Capt. Willard James said safety is a must.

Mustang, Choctaw and Okarche are among the few Oklahoma cities that allow citizens to sell and use fireworks, James said.

Oklahoma City’s open mic community is composed a loose knit group of musicians, songwriters and poets.

There is roughly one show for every day of the week, at different locations around the metro.

At open mic performances, audience members listen for free and the amateurs performing onstage play for free, taking their art from their bedrooms to the public. The only cost of watching is travel and purchasing a cup of coffee.

Chris Parker, a 22-year-old psychology major at OCCC who said he wants to be a singer like Lou Reed, played on a recent Friday night at Coffy’s Café, on NW 16th Street in the plaza district.

A 26-year-old nursing major has found herself grateful to OCCC after a challenging start and originally not wanting to come to Oklahoma.

Lyubov Popovych, whose first name means “love” in Ukrainian language, said she at first resisted moving to the U.S. for school, but has found the experience exciting and rewarding.

Popovych said her English professor and friends at her university in Ukraine inspired her to come to the States to pursue her studies in nursing.

OCCC automotive student Daniel Murphy recently won first place in the SkillsUSA State Secondary Contest of Oklahoma at the OSU Institute for Technology in Okmulgee.

The event was an automobile skills contest highlighting different areas of auto care. Murphy won after demonstrating 12 different types of auto care and maintenance.

Murphy, a high school student when he won, will attend the national competition in Kansas City later this month.

“The feeling of winning this competition was very rewarding and I couldn’t be happier,” Murphy said.

E-mail has replaced the formal business letter in today’s contemporary office, said Penny Hampton, Professional Development director.

Hampton guided students through how to write an e-mail June 8 during a summer workshop “The Anatomy of an E-mail.”

She stressed the importance of being aware of grammer and other mechanics of communication.

Faustino “Tino” Ceballos Jr., a 34-year old business, political science, and pre-law OCCC graduate, recently won the President’s Volunteer Service Award for assisting with Oklahoma City humanities programs.

The award is signed by the president of the United States and is meant to encourage others to participate in a volunteer service.

Ceballos said he is happy about the award.

“I feel highly motivated and excited,” Ceballos said.

Ceballos he said he has been volunteering at local churches and parks before he began college at OCCC.

Members of the OCCC Science and Math Division researched the latest in classroom technology when they participated in a demonstration of SMART Board technology recently.

OCCC hosted the summer conference for the Oklahoma Council of Teachers of Mathematics June 11.

There, Susan Sawyer, certified SMART Board trainer, gave a demonstration.

The SMART Board Sawyer used was a third-generation model, produced by SMART Technologies.

Sawyer said they cost more than $2,000 each but could be shared by multiple teachers.

Math Professor Gail Malmstrom said SMART Boards also allow teachers to save step-by-step class presentations, so if a student misses a class, it would be possible to could go online and get the information they’ve missed.