Originally, this campus was a P.O.W.

camp during World War Two in an Army hospital.

This is the only degree granting institution left in the United States, and maybe even the entire world.

So for an associate degree in boot making and saddle making, this is it.

A lot of people think that this is a dying trade.

If there's more horses in this country than there's ever been, and if people have horses, they're going to need saddles.

They're going to need boots.

This is a full blown associate degree program where they learn boot making and saddle making.

I'm Mike DeWitt.

I'm the supervisor of the shooting saddle department here at Oklahoma State University Okmulgee branch.

Do you angle those out when you're putting that first base on?

I've always been interested in doing leather work.

I've always like making saddles.

Once I learned how to build boots 25, 30 years ago.

That's what I thought I would be doing for the rest of my life.

One down, one to go.

Was just working for myself in a small business, in a small rural town, and doing this for the rest of my life.

I in my wildest dreams or nightmares, I never thought I would be teaching this.

Sanded down.

You can get those probably pretty well finished tomorrow.

Yeah, he's he's kind of counting on these to hurry up, see if I done any better than I did on the last.

The first couple of years were a little bit tough because you change from the finished product being a saddle or a pair of boots, your finished product as a student.

Most of the students that come here, come here with the idea in mind of opening their own business, that's what that's their main purpose for coming here.

That's what they want.

That's their goal.

You know, they're tired of working for somebody else.

They want to work for themselves.

The main pull gets people into this industry is the individuality and the freedom.

Well, some of our students, like Skeeter, whose family has had a repair shop for several generations now, they did not build boots and they don't build saddles.

And so Skeeter comes here with the idea mind of of expanding what they're able to do in that family shop.

And now they once he goes home, they'll be able to build boots.

They can build saddles and do a whole lot more than than what they could originally.

My grandfather, he he's on the shoe shop all his life.

I'm good.

30 years.

He passed away about six years ago and the shop was kind of in jeopardy.

My mom, like, was debating whether or not, you know, they were going to close the shop or what have you.

And I was like, in the military of the, you know, crossing point in my life.

And I was like, all right, I'll take over the shop, but how am I going to learn how to do that trade?

And low and behold, this is the only one of the few places or the only place, I think, now in the United States, that you can actually obtain a degree doing this kind of thing.

I look at this as, continuation of, my grandfather's legacy, because there's an entire boot shop there that was about to close down.

You know, if I didn't take it.

And in some way, I do look at it as a second chance, but at the same time, it's I don't want to say it's my second chance because it's now become like a first love to me, you know what I'm saying?

I enjoy it, working with your hands.

There's nothing better.

You know, it's been.

Oh, it's been a good experience for me.

And learning.

The trade is open, doors open and a new path in my life.

For me, that was a we are probably the most non-typical department or program on campus.

We don't get a lot of high school age kids.

Most of our students are.

Our average age is probably about, 35, 38 years old.

We've got students in their early 20s, and I've got students in their 70s.

I'm just, doing an eagle on top of a feather and making it embossed, stuck out.

And then I'll dye it to the color of a bald eagle.

And, I like to do outdoor stuff.

Like buffaloes and things of Oklahoma.

And.

Prairie stuff.

I just experiment every day.

I worked with the race horses for 45 years while I was a jockey.

I rode all through the small treks across the United States.

I loved it.

You just got to get on a good horse.

I learned to to look when I was real young, to do belt and billfold, but I hadn't done it in years and years.

I'm just having fun learning.

The most rewarding part of this job has been my students.

In this department, it's more of a family type atmosphere.

It's not a place where you go and you sit for three hours a day and you're lectured to.

You walk in here and you start working on whatever project you're working on.

And, and there's a lot of kid and going on and, you know, there's a lot of interaction between students.

There's a lot of moving around.

And it's it's just a really different type program.

It's very it's probably one of the most unique programs in the country.

The neat thing here is that we are not a traditional classroom.

My name is Linda Talent, and I'm an instructor in the shoe boot and saddle and podorthic program.

We have, a lab and our, our lessons are actually shoes and boots and orthotics and the things that we're building.

So that is what really makes it fun, where most students in an English class can't wait for the class to be over and get out.

We have to run our students off.

I actually graduated from the Shoe Boot and Saddle program in 1976, so I've grown with the program as it's grown here.

Podorthics is, you might say corrective shoeing for people.

We do orthotics, shoe modifications, extra depth shoes.

We work with the diabetic popula The career options in Podorthics is very good because there's not enough podorthics to go around to meet the, the need that we had, especially in Oklahoma with the Indian population that we have, they have a high rate of diabetes.

And so there's a great need there.

I'd like to see more people get into this field.

My experience here is that, every day has been a new learning experience.

It's been a good learning experience for me.

And I think that's part of what has kept it interesting, is because you're learning something new every day, not just the students.

But I learned probably way more than they do.

And so that part of it has been interesting.

I probably saved 15 20 minutes in pegging, and that's money.

I've been here since 1984, teaching.

So 20 years now.

And I've, I've loved it.

It has been fun.

I really enjoyed it.

And in 20 years I still love coming to work.

I still get to to do what I enjoy doing.

I get to work with my hands, I get to build saddles, and I get to build boots and get to help students.

And so it's been fun.

I really enjoyed it.

I have gotten a lot of satisfaction, a lot of enjoyment out of seeing students go out and being successful.

And to me, being successful doesn't necessarily mean that they're building boots for for celebrities or that they're making, you know, a lot of money.

And maybe that's a simplistic approach, but I you know, to me, it's a lot more than just the money that you make.

You've got to be happy doing what you're doing.

I've never burned out on doing this stuff.

I never have burned out on it, and I can't see that I ever would.

This is something I can see myself doing to some degree or another.

As long as I live.