Ohio Technical College Wins School of the Year Award

Good schools need to be equipped with the right tools. Because of its outstanding academic qualities, the Ohio Technical College (OTC), a Cleveland-based school providing technical training in a variety of transportation industries, was recently awarded $10,000 in tools from Chicago Pneumatic, earning the School of the Year award in a contest co-sponsored by Tomorrow’s Technician magazine and Chicago Pneumatic.

“We are extremely honored to receive the 2009 School of the Year award on behalf of our dedicated staff and hard-working students, who have all become a part of the OTC family,” said OTC president Marc Brenner, accepting the award from Beth Skove, publisher of Tomorrow’s Technician, during a May 7 awards event.

“Our team is committed to providing students with the advanced education and specialized skills — such as our alternative fuel vehicle, high performance and power generator system courses — that will help lead the transportation industry into the future.”

The School of the Year is a contest to recognize top technical colleges dedicated to innovative training programs that prepare students for real-world careers. OTC was selected from more than 170 entries nominating 80 schools across the country.

“We had so many amazing entries into this year’s School of the Year competition that it was hard to narrow it down to the finalists,” said Skove. “What really made Ohio Technical College stand apart was the variety and innovation of their programs as well as the staff’s passion for their students. The OTC team doesn’t treat the college like a business; they treat it as an opportunity to inspire students to become leaders in our industry.”

As one of only eight BMW training centers in the country, the BMW Service Technician Education Program (STEP) class is one area that sets Ohio Technical College apart from other schools. Also setting the school apart, according to current student James Lee, was the size of the campus.

“This facility is three to four times larger than other schools I’ve looked at, and the breadth of programs was exactly what I was looking for,” said Lee, a Pittsburgh native who has already completed the Auto-Diesel program. “Now I’m studying in the High Performance and Racing program because I like building race cars. Here at OTC, the teachers want us to know everything we can about a car, so we actually get to work in depth with them, taking the cars apart and putting them back together.”