TWO SCC STUDENTS HONORED WITH
REGIONAL BREAKING TRADITIONS AWARDS

The Missouri Breaking Traditions contest has announced this year’s outstanding students in nontraditional career and technical education programs.  St. Charles Community College students Edgar Micere, 28, who is in the occupational therapy assistant program, and Kimberly Klein, 37, who studied Computer-Aided Drafting at SCC, are regional post-secondary adult winners.
 
Sponsored by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Missouri Center for Career Education, and the MCCE Career Education Coordinators, the Breaking Traditions Award recognizes nontraditional students.  Nontraditional students are defined as those studying for careers traditionally chosen by the opposite gender.
 
Career Centers, public two-year colleges, and comprehensive high schools can nominate a single student from each nontraditional program.  Winners from the 10 regions in the state are chosen by a panel of judges, and these finalists then compete for state awards.
 
Micere has a bachelor’s degree in social work from Illinois College in Jacksonville.  He said when he returned to Missouri to be near family, he went to SCC for a career change.  He said he never considered his choice nontraditional.
 
“I wanted to do something I saw as more functional,” he said.  “I didn’t think about the fact that I was a man in a woman-dominated field.”
 
Klein had always enjoyed drafting, but had been discouraged from pursuing the field as early as high school.  Instead, she worked a variety of odd jobs before deciding to take up drafting at SCC in 2005. She now works in drafting at Charter Communications.
 
“In high school, I had a teacher who wouldn’t let me in a drafting class because he said it was a male’s career,” Klein said.  “For me, this award helps send the message that even if a career is male-dominated, it doesn’t mean it’s the only choice.”
 
Micere and Klein said though they were often one of few students of their gender in their program and classes, they never felt that this held them back at SCC.
 
“The teachers and program directors have been instrumental in my life and to my success,” Micere said. “I always felt they truly cared about me.”
 
Klein and Micere have both found success in their chosen careers, but still have educational and career goals they intend to achieve in the near future.
 
“Ed Micere has always been very self-assured, and told me his aspirations for having his own business someday,” said Francie Woods, program coordinator for the occupational therapy assistant program.  “He is very focused and goal directed to where he wants his career to go, and I know that SCC will not be the end of his educational journey.”
 
Klein intends on returning to SCC to start working toward a degree in architecture.
 
Klein and Micere were recognized for their achievement during a student awards banquet in the SCC College Center on April 18.

Photos and Cutlines.

Back To News