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Professor follows in father’s footsteps from soccer field to field of work

Published: Jul 22 2019
Aside from spending time together due to simply being father and son, former and current BSC HVAC (Heating, ventilation and air conditioning) Assistant Professors Arlan and Ryan Okerson have been with each other on the soccer field as well as in the classroom.
 
It started with Ryan’s interest in soccer. He first played in the Bismarck Soccer League. They needed coaches, so Arlan stepped up. He went on to coach junior varsity at Century High School. He and Ryan coached there together for a time, and now Ryan is the head boys’ coach at Century.
 
It was Ryan’s skills with the students he coached on the field that showed his dad he could also work well with students in the classroom. Arlan spent 34 years teaching HVAC to students at BSC before retiring. Ryan, who is one of his former students, proved to be the right person to replace him. “I watched how he handled students at the coaching level. He’s doing the same thing there that he’d be doing in the classroom and the shop.”

Continue reading this story written for the Summer 2019 issue of BSC Magazine.