By Chris Cox

Gordon Cooper Technology Center offers a variety of courses for students to take. The Electrical Careers program prepares individuals for placement as an entry-level electrician in residential, commercial or industrial employment or for positions in sales or warehouse shipping and receiving of electrical parts. 

For Strother junior Travis Woolsey that real world experience is already paying off. He and his FFA teammates won the electricity competition at a recent FFA competition at Seminole State College. He also won the individual competition beating out Nate Ezell from Jenks and his own GCTC classmate and FFA teammate, Joseph Mason. 

The results by Woolsey and his GCTC and Strother classmate Joseph Mason were not a surprise to their instructors. Gordon Cooper’s Electrical Careers instructor Darrell Frerichs says Woolsey and Mason are both at the top of their class at GCTC.

Woolsey is using these courses at GCTC to prepare himself for a job as an electrician after he graduates in 2022.

“I enjoyed wiring and electrical work before joining Gordon Cooper and this program teaches me more in the industry,” Woolsey says. “These classes further my knowledge in the electrical fields and allows me to gain hours on my apprenticeship card. It also gets me closer to having my hourly men’s license and it teaches me some of the things that most apprentices don’t know when starting in the field.”

While electrical work and FFA don’t typically seem to go hand in hand, Woolsey says being able to use his hands and his electrical knowledge kept him involved.

“In FFA, I enjoy being able to work with my hands build different things and just see stuff come together as you build it,” Woolsey says. “

For more information about Gordon Cooper Technology Center and the programs that they offer visit gctech.edu.