Alumni Spotlight

Overview

COTC alumni are engaged, committed leaders who are making a difference in their professions and communities. We invite you to read their stories.

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Sherry Engle stands next to a mannequin in a nursing lab at COTC's Pataskala campus.

COTC Alumna Reflects on Nursing Career

From student to registered nurse to instructor, Sherry Engle shares her passion.

Sherry Engle, of Pataskala, treasures the generous cache of memories she stored up during her nursing years — a career’s worth of interactions that collectively illustrate the “human touch” that she knows is vital to patients’ well-being.

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Portrait of Brittany Klinkert and her three children.

COTC Alumna Opens Childcare Center

For Brittany Klinkert, life keeps her on her toes. The Central Ohio Technical College (COTC) alumna is not only a mother of three, but she also recently opened a Newark-based childcare center that brings an additional 20 children into her care.

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Jennifer McDonald and Brittany Misner stand next to each other outside local businesses  in downtown Newark.

Jennifer McDonald and Brittany Misner

Alumni Duo Leads Chamber of Commerce

Jennifer McDonald and Brittany Misner may have earned their business management degrees a couple decades apart, but they brought their business acumen to the same table in 2016 and have teamed up since then to propel the Licking County Chamber of Commerce forward.

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Julio Valladres' headshot.

Julio Valladares

A trip to Newark in 1981 with the El Salvador National Baseball Team was 19-year-old Julio Valladares’ first experience in the place he would later call home.

While his native country was in the midst of a civil war, Valladares felt a sense of peace and welcome in the home of his host family, who gladly opened their doors to him six months later when he decided to move to the United States.

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Two men in police uniforms and one man in a suit stand inside a courtroom of the Licking County Courthouse.

Randy Thorp, Mark Weiner and Nick Shuster

Tragedy Unites COTC Alumni

On May 12, 2017, as the nation’s eyes were drawn to the tragic scene of a shooting at Pine Kirk Care Center in Kirkersville, Ohio, three Central Ohio Technical College alumni played instrumental roles in helping to contain the situation and navigate its aftermath.

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Vickie Sant sands in the COTC Knox campus lobby for a portrait.

Vickie Sant

Little did Vickie Sant know, when she began working for Mount Vernon’s First-Knox National Bank in 1976, that in January 2019 she would retire as the bank’s first female president. In fact, her experience at First-Knox was her first exposure to accounting — the field in which she would later earn her degree from COTC.

Featured Instructor
Asif Khan stands in front of engineering equipment in a classroom

Asif Khan

Engineering Technology

Asif Khan’s list of achievements in academia is second to none. With three degrees to his name — a bachelor’s in information technology from AL-Khair University, Pakistan; an associate degree in electrical engineering technology from COTC; and a master’s in engineering and technology from Ohio University — and eight years of teaching at COTC, Khan has reason to be proud.

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Woman in lab coat smiling at camera

A Career to Build

COTC radiologic science technology alumna Mara Weber made her own path.

Mara Weber began a traditional four-year degree at The Ohio State University at Newark but realized it wasn’t the right path for her. She wanted to get a degree quicker allowing her to get into the healthcare setting and begin making a difference. Being at Ohio State Newark, the co-located campus of Central Ohio Technical College (COTC), gave her an advantage.

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DeLane King standing in front of police cruiser.

DeLane King

Peace Officer Alumnus Makes a Difference in His Community

An interaction with a police officer during his youth made Central Ohio Technical College (COTC) alumnus DeLane King want to make the same kind of difference in his community. King is now a Granville police officer after starting his career with the Hebron Police Department.

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Archana Rajendran standing next to ultrasound machine.

Archana Rajendran

A Matter of the Heart: COTC Graduate Becomes Wexner Medical Center Echo Technologist

Archana Rajendran of Westerville believes she wouldn’t be where she is today without the hands-on training and personal attention she received from the professors at Central Ohio Technical College (COTC). Rajendran participated in a recent photo shoot celebrating the fact that her alma mater was ranked number one in Ohio and number 19 in the nation by PayScale in its 2016-17 College Salary Report ranking the best community and career colleges by salary potential. “I had an echocardiogram done to me once, and it looked interesting.

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Jennifer McDonald with foam number one finger at the Licking County Chamber of Commerce office.

Jennifer McDonald

Chamber Executive and COTC Graduate Knows Value of her Degree

The president and chief executive officer at the Licking County Chamber of Commerce knows the value of a Central Ohio Technical College (COTC) education from both sides of the table. Jennifer McDonald is a COTC graduate. She received a business management technology degree in 1990. Now, as president of the chamber, McDonald is in charge of trying to attract new business and industry to Licking County, and she knows that COTC is a huge part of that. “Workforce is the number one question posed by a company looking to locate into our area,” said McDonald.

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Chase Ghiloni stands with arms crosses, smiling in office.

Chase Ghiloni

COTC Alumnus Accepts New Role as Vice President at First Federal Savings

When Chase Ghiloni graduated from Newark High School in 2001, he didn’t think college was all that important. These days he has a different opinion. Ghiloni is now the vice president of marketing at First Federal Savings in Newark, Ohio, and credits his success to his digital media design degree from Central Ohio Technical College (COTC). “I was never really the college type. I never really applied myself in high school. I just wanted to get it over with and move on,” said Ghiloni. “But, after being out of high school for a few years, I wanted more.

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Sheriff Randy Thorp in uniform holding a blue number one foam finger

Sheriff Randy Thorp

Top Law Enforcement Officer Proud COTC Graduate

Licking County Sheriff Randy Thorp is now serving his fourth term in office, and he believes a great deal of his success can be credited to Central Ohio Technical College (COTC). “Growing up I thought about a career in law enforcement a lot, but I didn’t start out there immediately. It just kind of evolved,” said Thorp. “When I started in Licking County as a deputy at the sheriff’s office a long time ago, I never dreamed I would be the sheriff. However, it’s all worked out, and COTC was a big part of that.”

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Group of radiologists at Grant Medical Center

Tim Blunn

An Injury Led One COTC Alumnus to a Fulfilling Career

Central Ohio Technical College (COTC) alumnus Tim Blunn’s journey to his career as a computed tomography (CT) technologist began with an accident. Blunn was still living in England when he suffered a soccer injury that significantly dislocated his knee. The x-rays proved to be “shockingly interesting,” and he was hooked on radiology. Soon after he immigrated to the United States, specifically Columbus, Ohio, Blunn was working in a hospital when a coworker suggested he look into COTC’s radiologic technology program. As Blunn would say, the rest was history.

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Alumni Julio Valladares receiving Community Service Award

Julio Valladares

Valladares Receives COTC Alumni Award for Community Service

In 1981, 18-year-old Julio Valladares traveled to Newark, Ohio, with the El Salvador National Baseball Team to compete in the international Babe Ruth World Series. Now he calls Newark home and is doing his part to give back to the town that gave him a new beginning. On July 3, Central Ohio Technical College (COTC) recognized Valladares as the recipient of the John C. “Jay” Barker Community Service Alumni Award. ”It is an honor to be one of the alumni that have received this award,” said Valladares.