Nope, that ain’t a typo for the title. \u00a0It is an acronym. \u00a0It stands for Oklahoma Panhandle State University. \u00a0It is located in Goodwell, OK. \u00a0I have been through Goodwell, OK numerous times in the past decades. \u00a0I have hauled kids to metropolis’s such as Miami, Manhattan, Clarendon, Wilburton, etc. \u00a0But, until now I have never hauled kids to Panhandle State. \u00a0I have now.<\/p>\n
(disclaimer)This is not a post making fun of this institution. \u00a0NOT AT ALL. \u00a0Some of my absolute favorite people are alumni of OPSU. \u00a0I actually encourage kids to take a look at this school. \u00a0Even more so now.<\/p>\n
Growing up in late 80’s Shattuck, America, the common joke about Panhandle State was that there was a good looking girl behind every tree. \u00a0One thing that I recently noticed was that there were more trees on campus than I expected. \u00a0Hunh?!<\/p>\n
Another common joke was: \u00a0Panhandle State–where the men are men and the women are too. \u00a0That doesn’t fit in today’s time. \u00a0Anymore, sometimes, it’s just hard to tell. \u00a0 \u00a0 Currently, I would actually say it is harder to tell on some of the bigger name campuses. \u00a0Of course, I do remember this line: \u00a0Panhandle State–where the men are men and the sheep are nervous. \u00a0We’ll get back to this.<\/p>\n
We hauled about 35 Shattuck FFA members to the interscholastics contests. \u00a0We brought home a lot of hardware. \u00a0But, we didn’t win much. \u00a0The common number was 2, as in the crops team–2nd, ag communications–2nd, electricity team–2nd, ag shop–2nd and livestock–you guessed it–2nd. \u00a0And for you smart asses out there, yes, there were way more than 2 teams in each division.<\/p>\n
Then there was the public speaking contest–yes, we also had the 2nd overall speaker. \u00a0AND-the 1st place overall public speaker. \u00a0The winners of the big 6 speech divisions have to speak in front of the crowd. \u00a0They then pick a top 3 overall public speakers. \u00a0Shattuck had 3 of the final 6. \u00a0Duke had to speak in the finals. \u00a0I love watching kids speak in public. \u00a0He did well. \u00a0Just not as good as some wicked good girls but he was way better than the other males in the finals. \u00a0It was a really good trip.<\/p>\n
There were teams from numerous states. \u00a0The parking lot was full of buses. \u00a0I just wasn’t prepared to get home and finish chores about 1 am. \u00a0There was a time when 1 am didn’t hurt much. \u00a0Now\u2026.dragging donkey\u2026.the next day\u2026.without any good stories.<\/p>\n
And while I was there, I remembered articles from newspapers and magazines from back in the early 90s. \u00a0There was a publication, whose founder recently passed, that ranked Oklahoma State University as the #1 party school from 1990 to 1992. \u00a03 time National Champions. \u00a0I would bet that title is more legit than that 1945 national football title that they are claiming now. \u00a0Speaking of disclaimers—Mom, it is pure coincidence that I was at Okie State from the fall of 89 to the spring of 93.<\/p>\n
That magazine would list the top 40 party schools and why they were ranked. \u00a0I remember the reasons for \u00a0#1, #10 and #40. \u00a0#1–included Joe’s week and some other stuff that I vaguely remember. \u00a0#10 was Panhandle State University—A bunch of cowboys, middle of no man’s land, some livestock, etc.–sounds fun. \u00a0#40 was ou—description—only included on this list because norman is only an hours drive to Stillwater.<\/p>\n
For a small college, this school continues to produce. \u00a0I don’t know how many rodeo national championships but I do know that they currently hold the title. \u00a0And I bet their national titles are way more economical as compared to Ok State and ou.<\/p>\n
As I do when I am bored, I read\u2026.pamphlets, newspapers, web articles, bathroom walls, maybe even a stupid blog, whatever. \u00a0While reading an OPSU pamphlet, I noticed that they give $4 million in scholarships, each year. \u00a0Their enrollment is 1,148 students. \u00a0Do the math. \u00a0Yes, you can use the calculator on your phone. \u00a0That comes to almost $3,500 per student in scholarships each year. \u00a0Now, let’s figure that at most higher learning institutions, at least half \u00a0of the students are borderline dip shits. \u00a0That rapidly moves that figure to $7,000 per year. \u00a0Now, take into consideration a good student with a good resume, work ethic and attitude—people, that kid has a chance to get college paid for. \u00a0Why would you NOT go there? \u00a0NO student loans to payoff. \u00a0You would already be ahead of most current college graduates. \u00a0And they have several degree areas that they can boast a 100% job placement rate in your degree area. \u00a0Granted, it may not be the job that you wanted, but a job is a job. \u00a0If you take that job and do a GOOD job, you will get a better job. \u00a0It’s the American way.<\/em> \u00a0As screwed up as our society is, if a kid can get college paid for, build a resume, develop a social network, have fun, graduate AND get a job in their desired career field–DUDE! they are WAY ahead of most, if not all! \u00a0RUfSM?! \u00a0$$$$ make sense!<\/p>\n OPSU has a drawing area from Albuquerque to Denver to Wichita to OKC to Amarillo. \u00a0That is a helluva land mass with very few people. \u00a0Look at a map (who does that anymore?) \u00a0It’s all about the same driving distance. \u00a0In this part of the world, a degree from OPSU may mean more than a degree from an Ivy league school, or even a Big 12 school such as Tech, OSU or OU. \u00a0It means you are real world. \u00a0One of Tammy’s favorite nieces is a current student at OPSU (and she has a pile of scholarship money) \u00a0While roaming the halls, I found a pic of Tom Lamle from the ’84 livestock judging team. \u00a0Nice mustache! \u00a0I think Jeffy Spake must have photo-shopped that 70s porn stache onto your mugshot.<\/p>\n Have a good day and a better tomorrow. \u00a0I’m going to. \u00a0You should do the same.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nope, that ain’t a typo for the title. \u00a0It is an acronym. \u00a0It stands for Oklahoma Panhandle State University. \u00a0It is located in Goodwell, OK. \u00a0I have been through Goodwell, OK numerous times in the past decades. \u00a0I have hauled kids to metropolis’s such as Miami, Manhattan, Clarendon, Wilburton, etc. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1882"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1882"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1886,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1882\/revisions\/1886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}