Students can now get tutoring from home

Long-distance English tutoring has come to the OCCC campus via Echo 2.0. The Communications Lab uses Skype to connect students with tutors in real time, even if they are miles apart.

Bethany VanderSchans, an Echo English tutor said students can’t always come to campus to sit down face-to-face with a tutor.

“For a campus that has so many nontraditional students, this is an innovative way for the tutors to come to you,” VanderSchans said.

Non-traditional students include those who have full-time jobs or are taking all their classes online.

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Students enjoy Spanish-speaking weekend

Spending a weekend in a totally Spanish-speaking environment is something OCCC offers its students every spring, said Ginnett Rollins, Spanish professor. It’s called Spanish Immersion Weekend and it takes place at Red Rock Canyon, about an hour west of Oklahoma City.

To participate, students must have had some experience in Spanish and be looking to develop their communication skills in that language.

“It is for those who are trying to break the psychological barrier that they have of speaking Spanish,” Rollins said.

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‘Next Generation’ plays to run April 28 through 30

Only in theater can you see a professor, a financial aid officer and a student all performing on stage together, said theater student Bettina Patterson.

An eclectic collection of cast members is just one of the enticements to attend “The Next Generation,” the last theater production of the season.

Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 28, and continue through Saturday, April 30, in the Bruce Owen Theater in the Arts and Humanities building. Admission is free on Thursday to OCCC students and faculty and $10 for general admission. Students pay $5 on Friday and Saturday.

“Next Generation” features three student-directed one-acts.

“Where else can you see three different shows by three separate directors for $5?” Patterson said. She plays Mrs. Peters, the sheriff’s wife, in “Trifles,” a murder story by Susan Glaspell.

Student director Jade Webb takes on “Trifles,” an early 20th century feminist play. It’s a dark satire about a woman in jail for the murder of her abusive husband, ironically named Mr. Wright.

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Professor offers ‘words of wisdom’ to students

A little boy walks up to the refrigerator and opens it: no food to fill his stomach. He walks into the living room to relax from another day of uncertainty. With no books to read, he flips the switch and there is no light to shine on his curiosity.

Sometimes in life, a thing called adversity will knock on the door and take a seat on the couch, if there is one to sit on.

OCCC political science professor Markus Smith credits his success today to the hardship faced in the past.

Born on a U.S. Air Force base in Tachikawa, Japan, Smith credits instances like that to accepting responsibility.

“Hard work will pay off,” he said. “A strong work ethic and a will to be responsible for my actions made me who I am today.”

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Police chief recalls moment he chose police work

College Police Chief Jim Fitzpatrick said he knows exactly when he decided to become a police officer.

It was the summer of 1972. Fitzpatrick had come to Oklahoma from the Bronx in New York City to pursue a degree in Liberal Arts from St. Gregory’s University in Shawnee.

It was there he stumbled onto a summer internship with the Oklahoma City Police Department while looking for a job that he might be interested in.

Fitzpatrick was riding with a police officer when they were called to a gruesome triple homicide involving a convenience store clerk, her husband and their young son. They were all shot and killed execution-style in the store’s back room.

The killers escaped with $50.

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Student submits short film to Oklahoma festival

Film and Video major Shawn Barfield’s short film “By Dawn” has been submitted to Oklahoma’s deadCENTER film Festival.

Barfield served as director and screenwriter. He said the film is based partly on the world of the supernatural.

“The film is a spiritual thriller that centers on a particular ritual connected to early 20th century occultist Aleister Crowley,” Barfield said. “His grandson is going to attempt to succeed where he failed.”

The film is based on Jo Lang’s short story entitled “Dice.”

The cast and crew consisted almost exclusively of OCCC students.

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Student receives two journalism awards

OCCC journalism student Mark Smith won two Region 8 Mark of Excellence awards at the Society of Professional Journalism conference April 9 at the Gaylord School of Mass Communications at the University of Oklahoma.

This is the second year Smith has taken home an award from SPJ.

Smith placed first in online feature reporting for a 2-year college for his story “OCCC president more than a educator.”

He also placed second in general news reporting for a 2-year college on his “Student sues state after vanity tag request denied.”

Region 8 SPJ Director Scott Cooper said Smith has been a valuable asset to SPJ.

“Whether it was here at a regional conference or at national conference, he is known because of his work,” he said.

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Students invited to learn in sun at Blue Sky Lab

Having fun and learning at the same time are the goals of the Blue Sky Lab on Wednesday, April 20, in the campus courtyard. It is being hosted by the World Languages and Cultures Center, said Chiaki Troutman, lab coordinator.

Beginning at 1:30 and continuing until 2:30 p.m., picnic style tutoring and language activities will be offered.

Troutman said one of the highlights will be dance lessons for the bachata, a Latino dance that is something like the salsa.

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