The voice for student organizations and students attending OCCC is The Leadership Council (TLC).

Officers from different clubs and organizations make up TLC, said President Paul Sechrist.

“The administration uses this group as a student advisory council on issues facing OCCC that impact students,” Sechrist said.

TLC is responsible for representing their peers on different issues and questions that students may have about the college, said Marion Paden, vice president of enrollment and student services, and acting chair of TLC.

“Basically your responsibility is to represent and speak your own voice, for the voice of your friends, the voice of your classmates, and the voice of those that you represent in your student organization,” Paden said.

TLC meetings are the way that OCCC administration becomes aware of matters that students are dealing with.

“This is not student government … .” Paden said. “This is an opportunity.

“It’s really the only one at OCCC where we have a regular organized format by which we make sure the administration of the college hears students, and vice versa.”

Although the administration pays attention to the multiple ways of communication, Paden said, TLC meetings are where voices are heard more clearly.

“Now we listen to the student editors, the letters to the editors, the articles, the emails, the suggestions that we get … but there is no real formal vibe that we might get a resolution for them, or a recommendation from that we then respond to as the administration.”

Important topics are discussed and acted upon, Paden said, such as the price of tuition, food services, or the resolution against guns on campus.

“The last four or five years, we as an institution, the students, the TLC, have affirmed the resolution that is in opposition to guns on campus,” she said.

Sechrist said TLC also has acted on issues in the past that are making the campus a better place for students.

Examples are the OCCC Roadmap, the directional signs both outside and inside the buildings; recommendations on tuition and fees and advisement on the student conduct code.

Jessica Macias, TLC co-chair and diversified studies major, said when students bring up issues, TLC contacts the person in charge of that area and asks them to a meeting.

“We usually bring the president each semester and we try to do him first,” Macias said.

“We always try to bring the food services since they’ve changed now and we usually bring the vice president, which is Marion [Paden],” she said.

Sechrist said to become a part of TLC, students must first join a club or organization.

“The first step is to get involved with a student club or organization, be elected by the members as an officer, and then agree to attend the meetings of TLC,” he said.

Macias said students who are not a part of an organization or club are still invited to attend TLC meetings.

“If you’re not involved in any club whatsoever you can sit in the back and then see who is represented for each club, and then talk to them, as well, so you can be a part of this,” she said.

Joining TLC gives students a chance to make a difference on the OCCC campus and in their community, Macias said.

“It gives them more information about things that are going on around school, and to make our school better.”

Sechrist encourages students not only to become involved with TLC, but also in clubs and organizations in general.

“Getting involved with student clubs and organizations allows students the opportunity to provide input to the administration on issues that face students,” he said.

For more information about TLC, contact Paden at 405-682-7595 or email her at mpaden@occc.edu.

To contact Lauren Daniel, email editor@occc.edu.