Talking Leaves Job Corps - Tahlequah, Oklahoma

NoahIsTrue

I attended Talking Leaves from 02/14/23 - to 03/15/24 and safe to say it was one of the best choices I've made in a while. I have a lot to say. Starting with..

Education: If you are looking to get a good education, your high school diploma or a GED, you've come to the right place. Talking Leaves offers high school and GED classes to get the certification you need.

Trades: Talking Leaves offers six trades. Culinary Arts, Office Administration, CNA, CCMA, HBI (Electrical), & BCT (Building Construction Technology). Each trade offers certifications upon completion of the trade. I graduated from office administration and it was an amazing trade ran by the amazing Mrs. Lauren White.

Recreation: The recreation building offers many activities such as basketball games, volleyball, dodgeball and etc. Upon arrival of Talking Leaves you will receive a student id which will be used to check out any item in the recreation center. You can check out board games, basketballs, footballs, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, Wii & more. The recreation department also offers multiple rooms you could be in such as the game room where you could play pool, air hockey, ping pong, foosball & the game systems you check out. The music room is where you could check out guitars, amps, pianos, speakers, microphones and more. The weight room and cardio room are good places along with the movie theatre. There is also a student store called "The Pit" where you could buy food, drinks hygiene products and more with the money you earn on center.

Dorms: The dorms are very well maintained. Nights are mostly quiet on weekdays. Weekends you can sleep in and weekdays be up and out of the dorms by 7:45am.

Cafeteria: Breakfast is from 7:00 to 7:45. Lunch is 11:30 - 12:30. Dinner is from 5:00 to 6:00. Brunch is on weekends and that's from 10:00 to 12:00

I had a wonderful experience there. I want to give a special thanks to..

Mrs. Debra Lack (Center Director)
Mr. Daryl Hamby (HBI - BCT Counselor)
Mr. Gary McAlpin (Office Administration Counselor)
Mrs. Lauren White (Office Administration)
Mr. Taylor Cearly (Former BCT Instructor)
Mr. James Wolf (Head Of Transition Dept.)
Mrs. Sarah Grimes-Troutt (Trans. Coord.)
Mr. Byron Lytle (Driver's ED)

If your name was listed above.. you made my JobCorps experience the best experience and I thank each and everyone of you.

R F. (. C.

Went on a tour of the campus today. Pretty nice, not too small. I was delighted by the staff, and teachers; and the students who led the tour were nice.
We were most impressed by the Culinary Arts and Plumbing and Electrical departments.
Decent dorms.
The campus felt secure.
The students seemed to like it there.
The facility could have been just a little more organized.
But everything was clean and well-maintenance.

Snatcher T. P. (.

Alright so i'll be a little indepth for this review
I have been a student here for almost 2 years, and if you truly wish to get your diploma, to get certifications for a Job, etc, this would be a great place to start out a good career path.

Education here is very well done, you can finish your HS Diploma with the remaining credits you need, or just get your GED, which is fairly quick and easy. The teachers are extremely nice, and they do their job very well. Classrooms are pretty clean and everything is where it should be 90% of the time.

Dorm life is very quiet, but its not too bad. Only issue is that the students are sometimes extremely loud randomly at night, blaring music or being loud in general, but that depends on which area you are in, its not normally an issue. Study rooms arent usually open though.

For most after school stuff, the recreation center is well maintained and there are a good amount of activities being in place on the weekends, mostly like movie trips.

The cafeteria is very well maintained, and the food is pretty good.

The only issues I have here are the students most of the time. Some of them are extremely aggressive and mostly harass newer students. Another thing, focus on your education here. Don't worry about the friend groups or relationships, those are not the main focus of why you should want to come here/be here. And also, as for the money you get here, PLEASE for the love of god do NOT just spend your money on random stuff, you can earn a lot here.

Verlinda W.

We took our daughter there for training. Hard to leave her but we hope in the Lord that she will accomplish what she is set out to do for her adult journey.

Lyric ?. G.

I would give this place a 1 star rating on the medical practices alone, but the staff & students were kind and I'd rather base my experiences on them.
Me & my brother resigned due to personal reasons, but my resignation mostly had to do with my experiences with the medical staff & drawing my blood. I'd rather not have being stuck 5 times for a blood draw normalized for kids that don't know how to stand up for themselves. I was in the wellness center for over an hour while they wiggled needle after needle under my skin searching for a vein to draw blood from. I started to worry when one of the medical staff drew blood from my wrist under my thumb, which is one of the veins that is a contraindication, which means that it could've caused permanent nerve injury. One of the teachers had joked about a kid being stuck with a needle for a blood draw 12 times & that made me very uncomfortable. If you are that incompetent to have to stab a child 12 times to draw blood from them then you should not be working in that field. Other than that experience it was nice to talk to staff, mingle with the students and learn what I did in class.

Shaylee B.

Most of the bad reviews here are huge lies. As a student there now, I can safely say it's a very good school. Yes, there's probably every now and then, but all schools have that. All of the staff is very nice and helpful :))

Birdee R.

A little disorganized, but the staff does an excellent job for how underpaid they are. This is an excellent place to learn a trade, and I look forward to completing.
The food is what you would expect from cafeteria food, and there will always be a salad bar available to you as well as vegetarian options.
The classes are a little more relaxed than I think they should be, but I happen to have it on good authority that this is definitely not a popular opinion.
The campus is beautiful. The residential advisers really care about their students. Facilities are clean and frequently maintenanced.

Downsides: Smoking area makes quitting very difficult.

クリスティーナ

Final update: 5/14/2021 I have officially graduated from my university.
Thank you Talking Leaves Job Corps for giving me a head start in jobs.

I went here in 2014 since I wasn't ready for college yet and I had so much fun doing Culinary Arts and Business/Office Technology! The work here isn't hard and student life isn't as 'bad' as some people say. Some students are just too lazy to do their work and weren't self-disciplined. Don't get mad at the students because it's not their fault their parents didn't teach them right. If you don't like waking up early, being told what to do, doing chores, being drug free, rebellious, then this place isn't for you but if you want to change, then come here. I remember students would purposely fail their drug test so they wouldn't have to come back which will affect them later. Free food, free dorms, free field trips, free education, getting paid every two weeks, getting paid for completing the classes, and getting work experience. I did not have any problems when I attended. There was some people that annoyed me but I actually miss them because they weren't bad at all and I actually befriended the 'bullies'. Yes, there were some students that would taunt me but I always get the laughs because the students with that kind of mentality got terminated. As for fights in the comments I noticed, I've been threatened but I didn't let it bother me since I know Taekwondo and Judo. No one ever messed with me. I do miss my teachers, friends, and the resident advisors. I heard they're not there anymore but I will always remember them. This place isn't prison or hell. As someone who has an internship with the police department, some students here over exaggerate. If you think this place is prison, then you should start reading about prisons. My advice is, save up your money and do not spend it. I don't think anyone is going to break my record here from the amount I saved. Yes, there is drama but its up to the student to choose their friends wisely and to ignore it.

Just a warning I forgot to mention:
This school isn't the place to find a relationship and I've seen many girls get pregnant in this school. I'm telling you right now, focus on your education because chances are, that guy is going to leave you. Trust me, there are some guys that will try to pressure you. I never gave in because I have respect for myself, know better, and the insults they say is a reflection of them, not you. Just be careful girls.