Alumni

In its infancy, the city of Elgin had a full-blown identity crisis. In fact, the town had a post office but no name for months in 1902. One of its founders, C.G. Jones, boldly sought to have the southwest Oklahoma community name derive from the initials of his name. The powerful U.S. Postal Service – created in 1775 – rejected the proposed town name of “Ceegee.” The alternative name, Elgin, was approved. The name pays homage to the title of a 16th Century Earl in the United Kingdom. Eventually, the town of Jones was named for C.G. Jones, who would eventually

A grade-school fascination with model airplanes fueled a lifelong passion for Jason Timm. He rescued a model plane from the garbage and soldered and spliced the craft back to flight-ready status. Turns out, he has made a career of keeping planes airworthy after completing the Aviation and Maintenance Technology (AMT) program at Canadian Valley Technology Center. Timm, 48, of Union City, now serves as a structural section chief at Tinker Air Force Base. He oversees technicians responsible for major structural repairs and modifications for airborne warning and control system aircraft (or AWACS). These planes feature a large, mounted round radar disc,

Michael Graham admits to being a rebel. His dad and a couple uncles each had careers in the construction industry. Graham mapped out an entirely different path for himself that was intentionally void of hammers and wheelbarrows. Graham, 40, of Yukon, enrolled in Precision Machining while in high school in 2001 at Canadian Valley Technology Center. He thought he might want to become a machinist. Both machinists and carpenters interpret blueprints. But that’s where the career similarities end. The construction industry beckoned Graham to reconsider. He resisted until he could no longer stand the thought of the “family business” without him