Edison State to Present Alumni Experience Series

The Office of Alumni Engagement at Edison State Community College is commemorating the 50^th Anniversary of the College with the Alumni Experience Series. Attendees will hear alumni share their stories and engage in hands-on activities.

The first event will be held on Monday, September 25, 2023, at 5:30 p.m. and feature alumnus Jacob Oglesbee. Those in attendance will hear how Edison State helped Oglesbee find success, engage with robots, and connect with the College’s Information Technology faculty.

Oglesbee graduated from Edison State in 2019 with two associate degrees in computer information technology—network and computer security and network computer management. He now works at Copeland in Sidney as a Developer and System Architect for Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) applications. He works with business stakeholders to execute projects that turn issues and requests into solutions with automation, new processes, and applications that extend PLM and Computer-Aided Design (CAD) products. His team manages engineering applications and PLM systems for over 2,600 global users.

During his time at Edison State, Oglesbee worked as a Help Desk Representative on campus, supporting students and faculty with IT issues and assisting the College’s IT Technicians in classrooms. He also helped with the Women in STEMM Expo for two years, as well as the College’s Halloween Trick or Treat events.

“Edison State provided me with the real-world tools and experience needed to move into a full-time position in the industry,” Oglesbee said. “Their commitment to student success is world-class and further enhanced with ample networking opportunities and strong career-planning programs. I highly recommend Edison State for any prospective students who are looking to build a strong foundation and be set up for success.”

Alumnus Shane Meeker will speak on Tuesday, November 14, 2023, at 5:30 p.m. Meeker will share his Edison State experience, provide a presentation on storytelling, and conduct a hands-on workshop where attendees will discover how to apply his tools to real-life scenarios to prepare stories for interviews, speeches, presentations, and more. He’s a 27-year veteran at the Procter & Gamble Company, where he is the P&G Corporate Storyteller & Company Historian.

Early in his career, Meeker developed a unique way of connecting his passion for movies with how to tell better business stories. After he demonstrated the importance of this new approach, P&G created his current position and title, and for the past 15 years, he has been teaching storytelling principles and tools across all of P&G’s many brands, including Tide, Crest, Pampers, Gillette, Downy, Vicks, Pantene, and Swiffer.

He’s also presented his storytelling content at 250-plus companies and brands around the globe—Walt Disney, Ford, Anheuser Busch, Nike, American Express, Exxon Mobil, FedEx, Lockheed Martin, US Bank, and Nationwide to name a few. Meeker regularly presents at conferences and on university campuses and is an adjunct professor at the Chicago Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Cincinnati. He’s also part of the faculty for the Leadership and Strategic Impact program at the Tuck Executive Education program at Dartmouth and the Xavier Leadership Center.

His book, “StoryMythos: A Movie Guide to Better Business Stories,” is available on Amazon and was rated a #1 New Release Bestseller in Business Writing and Skills. He’s also presented his storytelling content at TED, and that talk is available online.

Meeker attended Edison State in the early 1990s, where he loved his classes, made lifelong friends, and met his wife, before transferring to The Ohio State University and earning a bachelor’s degree in industrial design/product design.

“I loved my experience at Edison State,” said Meeker. “It was an excellent blend of big-school resources and staff with a small-school, personal feel; it was the perfect place for me to start my career journey.”

The Alumni Experience Series events are free and open to Edison State alumni, current students, faculty, staff, and friends. Additional sessions of the series will be held in March and May of 2024. Visit www.edisonohio.edu/alumevents/ to learn more and register.