Photo by Jeff Dixon ~ Staff ~ Lawton Constitution

Shelly Tanner has diesel running through her veins.

The Elgin High School junior grew up in a family where large trucks were a big part of life.

Now, she’s the only female student in the Great Plains Technology Center’s diesel mechanics technician program.

“I’ve worked on trucks for a long time,” Tanner said. “It’s just a natural thing. I like working on trucks.”

Her family members work as truck drivers hauling rock for construction projects and working large-scale farm harvests up north. They were always working on large diesel trucks and she was always helping.

“I mainly just cleaned the trucks and helped rebuild the motors,” Tanner said. Eric Alexander, heavy truck service instructor for GPTC, said he’s only had two other women in the program—both of them were full-time adult students. He said Tanner is a good mechanic. He plans to send Tanner to the SkillsUSA competition later this year and expects her to do well.

Photo by Jeff Dixon ~ Staff ~ Lawton Constitution

Students in the biomedical science program at the Great Plains Technology Center spent Tuesday figuring out the best way to kill different types of bacteria.

Each student received cultures of Bacillus cereus and Escherichia coli and an assortment of antibiotics, instructor Mary Truex said.

The antibiotics  penicillin, gentamycin, ampicillin, chloraphenicol, streptomycin and tetracycline  are each effective against different types of bacteria.

The students had to test their bacteria cultures with each antibiotic to see which antibiotics were effective against each bacteria.

Truex said the experiment is a good introduction to a common job function in the medical field figuring which antibiotics are best to treat a patient’s condition. The biomedical sciences program at GPTC is designed as a pre-college course of study for high school juniors and seniors who want to work in the medical field. Truex said graduates of the program have gone on to work in nursing, attend medical and dental school and become physical therapists. There are about 68 student currently enrolled in the academically rigorous biomedical sciences program.

Photo by Jeff Dixon ~ Staff ~ Lawton Constitution

The firefighter training program at the Great Plains Technology Center will be going adults-only in August.

The program, which started in 2000 primarily for high school juniors and seniors who wanted to become firefighters, will be open only to those 18 and older, with a high school diploma or GED, beginning with the fall 2012 semester, said Nancy Howell, GPTC emergency medical technician/fire training instructor.

The program currently is 10 months long and students meet for half a day. The students are trained up to the level of proficiency required for the Firefighter Level I certification test and the basic EMT test.

The revamped program will be an all-day program lasting only one semester.

Students will be trained to the level of proficiency required to take the Firefighter Level II certification test, which is the minimum level of certification required for employment by the Lawton Fire Department. The decision to change the program was made by the school’s advisory committee, which is made up of professional firefighters and EMTs, Howell said. The reasons for the changes are increasingly tough requirements for certification and tighter competition for firefighter jobs. Both the Firefighter Level I and Basic EMT certifications now require students to have more hours of training than was previously required, Howell said. When the current program for high school students was started, it was only the third such program in the nat6ion. The other two programs for high school students were located in Los Angeles and Cincinnati.

February 2, April 5, 9 AM – 12 Noon, Room 656 Bldg 600
Designed for new business or individuals thinking about setting up business in Oklahoma.  Workshop offers information on formation, business structures, and steps for formation types such as incorporation steps, a step-by-step guide to business registration, bookkeeping techniques and a line-by-line explanation of the primary business tax forms. Free to attend.

Great Plains Chapter–SHRM

February 8, March 14, April 11, Lunch 11:30, Program at 12 Noon, Room 655
Chapter members and guests welcome.  Programs based on issues important to Human Resource professionals, business owners and managers.

Home Based Business Networking

February 13, April 9, 12 Noon – 1:30 PM, Room 655, Building 600
Free.  Programs of interest to the self-employed working from home.

Special Events:

Franchising 101

January 27, 9–11AM, Room 655-656 – No Charge
An introduction to operating a franchise, with Mike Ingram, from Frannet of Dallas/Fort Worth.

Small Business Showcase

March 13, 4–7 PM Worley Seminar Center, Building 300
Fifty vendor booths displaying goods and services of Lawton area small business. Door prizes from each vendor plus a grand prize. Free to the public.

Intellectual Property Workshop–Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights

April 4, 9–11AM, Room 655-656.
Presented by Anthony L. Rahhal, from the Oklahoma City law firm McAfee & Taft.

The students will participate in several “leadership days” this year that will tackle subjects as diverse as public speaking, leadership styles, teamwork, Career Tech and community service.  The groups will also visit Fort Sill, the state Capitol at Oklahoma City, a ROPES obstacle course and several local and county government agencies.