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Back to School is a phrase that to kids means summer is over, but for many adults, it means an opportunity to learn new skills. The same can be said for Erika Orafu, an adult student in the TV production program.

Tucked inside Tulsa Tech’s Peoria Campus is a place unlike any other; the Career Academy offers students a unique and personalized experience. The first thing you see when you walk in is no mistake. A big table meant to foster a sense of belonging.

When you hear the term “family business,” you often think of a small business or a place that is run by a family. For Yazmine Brito, a student in the Criminal Justice program, that family business is in law enforcement.

Sacrifice can be defined as “the forfeiture of something highly-valued for the sake of something considered to have greater value.”  For Byron Golphin, he sacrifices sleep, as his daily routine is unlike most students. This adult student leaves his third-shift job as a quality control supervisor and comes straight to class.

A stroll down the halls of any Tulsa Tech campus is a feast for the senses. Step inside the Broken Arrow campus, and your first sight is a pristine old car, proudly displayed across the welcoming lobby. But beyond the sights and smells, you also find a sense of family. “I like the culture here; I have found friends,” Maksym Smolko, a student in the Collision Refinishing program said. 

In surveys from the Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation, as many as 30 percent of workers said they wanted out of the profession. That was also true for Tulsa Tech student Kristy Irvine. “I was a nurse for 25 years, and the pandemic put me on a different level of stress and being away from my family,” she said. Like many Americans, the pandemic caused Irvine to reevaluate her life. But she did not want to abandon what she had learned over the last quarter century.

Going back to school is a scary thought for some. At 24 years old, Tulsa Tech alumnus Austin Ridgard took a leap of faith, but he knew what Tech could offer him. While at Union High School, he was enrolled in the pre-engineering program.

"The best things in life are messy." That quote sits at the top of the Kiss My Cook food truck menu. Opened during the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic, the food truck was more than a spur-of-the-moment decision. For Bryan Kiss, it was a way to make it. His passion for food and cooking lead him to Tulsa Tech and the Owasso campus. 

American poet Robert Frost is famous for his poem The Road Not Taken, and while published in the early 1900s, it still rings true today. Few journeys have as many twists and turns as Kash Allison, a recent graduate of Tulsa Tech’s Enterprise Network Technologies program. Allison's journey began as a child in Hawaii. After graduating high school, he didn't know what to do, so he joined the military.

Life can be full of adventures. The same can be said for David Loughney, who’s life has taken him from Hawaii to Texas and everywhere in-between. Needless to say, he has seen a lot of the world. Yet, his first love remained. “I have always liked turning wrenches,” Loughney said with a smile.