Engineering Physics major Daniel Vargas, a native of Mexico, said he learned English at home partly by watching American movies.

As a child, Vargas said, he hated English.

For psychology major Robert Bedford, failure is not an option.

Bedford, 29, is a single father of two girls, ages 5 and 4, and a 2-year old boy. And, like many other parents, he is juggling school with a busy home life.

“I came back to school to provide a better life for my family,” he said. “I worked 10 years and I was barely making it.”

A mixture of Indian, Gypsy, and Middle Eastern music will be heard at OCCC when the Azmeh, Wijeratne, Mayookh Trio take stage in the Bruce Owen Theater at 7 p.m. tonight, said Cultural Programs Director Lemuel Bardeguez.

Bardeguez said he booked the trio after viewing their audition at a booking conference in Canada, calling them “the most unique in the conference.”

The trio is comprised of Sri Lankan pianist Dinuk Wijeratne, Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and Indian tabla prodigy Mayookh Bhaumik.Tabla is a term for drums used on the Indian subcontinent.

The new Performing Arts Theater just got $50,000 closer to completion.

On Sept. 22, OCCC’s new theater became the first-ever recipient of the Mary Eddy Jones Signature Gift, an award created by the Fred Jones Family Foundation in honor of the family’s matriarch.

A reception was held in the Visual and Performing Arts Center gallery Wednesday, Sept. 22 to commemorate the event.

The style around campus lately is very expressive with a variety of trends being seen.

This year’s fall fashion trends include a number of past fashions such as skinny jeans and leggings for women, and sweater vests for men.

With OCCC’s diverse population, students can be seen wearing those fashions coupled with traditional dress.

The works of advanced photography students will be on display in the college art gallery through Wednesday, Sept. 22.

The gallery, located in room 136 near the main doors of the Visual and Performing Arts Center, is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The Digital Photography II students have put together the collection based primarily on their course work from the spring semester, said Professor Randy Anderson, who taught the class.

Great weather and good attendance marked the 32nd annual Arts Festival Oklahoma, said Cordell Jordan, Media Relations coordinator.

The festival was held on the north side of campus on a newly-landscaped and upgraded area built specifically to accommodate the festival, said Facilities Management Director J.B. Messer.

Some people, like 20-year-festival-veteran Dale Hartman, rarely miss the event.

Students will soon have the opportunity to immerse themselves in 1940s Louisiana, where racism runs rampant and ‘an eye for an eye’ is a way of life.

The Keith Leftwich Memorial Library has ordered 300 copies of Ernest J. Gaines’ 1993 novel “A Lesson Before Dying” in anticipation of the national Big Read program, said Barbara King, Library Services director.

The 256-page book takes place in a small Cajun community, where a schoolteacher tries to help Jefferson — a black man condemned to death for a robbery he didn’t commit. He wants Jefferson to get back his dignity before he is executed.

King said the book is being offered as a part of The Big Read, a reading program created by the National Endowment for the Arts to restore reading to American culture.

“It’s important to get reading back into society,” King said. “In the age of computers, people just don’t want to read for pleasure anymore. They’ve gotten away from it.”

One OCCC student can clearly see the financial advantage to earning good grades and applying for scholarships.

“All the scholarships I have gathered have added up to one large sum,” said diagnostic medical sonography major Adriana Longoria.

“I feel like I am getting paid to go to school.

“I wanted to focus on school, and not work,” Longoria said as the reason she applied for scholarships.

Once again, OCCC has reached full enrollment for its Pharmacy Technician training program that runs Sept. 13 through Nov. 3, said Francine Gissy, Corporate Learning Consultant.

Graduates of the program receive a certificate that states the student has completed the class, Gissy said.

She said that can provide a way to be quickly employed at a reasonable salary.