Pontotoc County retired educators hold final meeting of 2023-24

Apr. 25—The Pontotoc County Retired Educators Association met at the PEC Building on April 19, 2024. President Gary Cooper called the meeting to order, led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance, and asked the trivia question: According to Neil Armstrong, what was his actual quote as he stepped on the moon? Judy Hanson gave the invocation. The meal was catered by Jimmy John's. Desserts were provided by Suzanne McFarlane, June Murphy, Patsy West, and Jenny Cooper. The following members were in attendance: Betty Allred, Rita Cloar, Edna Mae Cooley, Gary Cooper, Jenny Cooper, Deborah Cornelison, Beth Crabtree, Todd Crabtree, Debbie Eaton, Linda Embry, Billie Floyd, Bobby Gray, Judy Hanson, Judy Hisaw, Sandra Ingram, Glenda Lillard, Sandra Mantooth, Juanita Matthews, Suzanne McFarlane, Linda McGaha, Mike McGaha, Jeannie McGehee, Vaden Morgan, June Murphy, Marty Pennington, Charles Perry, Jo Ann Prince, Mary Scalf, Terry Scott, Martha Skinner, Wes Skinner, Lanny Sliger, Gerri Stephens, Tom Stephens, Patsy West, Ronnie West, and guests Amy Allen and Judy Sliger.

Cooper introduced the program presented by Chris Eckler, Teacher and Director of the STEM/Aviation program at Ada High School. Eckler presented an overview of the program beginning with its inception in 2017. Paula Kedy attended the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) Symposium in Seattle. While there, she applied to field test the new "You Can Fly" High School aviation Curriculum. In 2017, Ada High School was the only school in Oklahoma selected to field test the curriculum, and the district began to develop the program, which finishes 7 years at the end of this year. Eckler has been with the program for 5 years moving from a regular math classroom to head the program. He pointed out there were certainly a lot of things he didn't know about aviation careers, including not having his pilot's license. He recalled a little intimidation when he attended his first AOPA Foundation professional development teacher workshop, to be introduced to the curriculum and how to teach it. Most of the other participants were either retired or recognized pilots, but he soon learned they had many questions about teaching that he could answer. Aviation and aerospace are two of Oklahoma's biggest and fastest-growing career sectors. Eckler has seen graduating seniors head to professional pilot programs at the University of Oklahoma and Southeastern Oklahoma State University, while others have gone to engineering or military programs. One of his main goals is to help students understand what they can do to enter the workforce immediately out of high school which may or may not include actual flying. However, students can graduate high school with their license. Eckler and some of his students took flight lessons concurrently and somewhat raced each other to see who could finish a private pilot's license first. Each school in the district has a STEM lab. Promotion of the high school curriculum—and aviation in general—starts early with all Ada students. Aviation is introduced to 4-year-olds at the pre-kindergarten center. The system teaches "A is for airplane," and by the time they reach twelfth grade, students complete capstone projects or fly solo. Eckler said that Ada has helped several schools initiate aviation programs. Among others, Byng, Atoka, Pauls Valley, Tupelo, Wayne, and the smallest, Paoli, have added the course. For the school year 2023-24, Oklahoma leads the nation with 87 schools offering aviation programs.

Following Eckler's presentation, the organization held its business meeting. In discussing legislative issues, June Murphy, Legislative Chairperson, reported that it is highly unlikely retirees will receive a COLA this year. Members are encouraged to call any senator and request that he or she sign on as a co-author to a COLA bill. On the Republican candidate slate for our district's state senator position, Greg McCortney is opposed by Jonathan Wingard; for our district's state representative position, Ronny Johns is opposed by Robert Burch.

Cooper spoke of his four years as President and thanked fellow officers and others who had assisted him as he led the organization. He then asked newly elected officers to stand as he installed them: Marty Pennington, President; Todd Crabtree, Vice President; Deborah Cornelison, Secretary; Sandra Mantooth, Treasurer. Following the installation, President Pennington gave a short background of her professional career and asked members to look forward to a successful new year beginning in August.

In final announcements, Billie Floyd, distributed pamphlets concerning contact information for Ada's Call-A-Ride program and reported that the program is doing well but needs drivers.

The organization will begin meetings again in August for 2024-2025. All retired educators from Oklahoma or any other state as well are welcome and encouraged to join the organization.