Rose State College is a public, two-year community college located on SE 15th Street in Midwest City. In 1968, voters in Midwest City, Del City, and Eastern Oklahoma City voted to create a new school that would be named Oscar Rose Junior College, in memory of a local school superintendent and education advocate. The college held its first classes on September 21, 1970, with only one building on campus and an initial enrollment of 1,700 students. Jacob B. Johnson served as the first president. Fifty years later, the campus has 22 buildings and an annual enrollment of more than 13,000. The name of the college was changed to Rose State in November 1983.

Since February 24, 1972, campus news has been covered by the student newspaper, the 15th Street News. There had previously been a publication called Campus Profile that began during the school’s inaugural term, but by 1972 it was no longer printing. The 15th Street News offered stories on student politics, school policies, campus events and performances, collegiate sports, and local advertising of interest to students. The paper published a special edition to commemorate the school’s name change in 1983. It featured a history of the college and its achievements, as well as predicting the name change would fuel even more growth. Over the years, the 15th Street News has won awards from the Oklahoma Press Association and the Oklahoma Collegiate Media Association. The student writers continue to provide stories of news and entertainment from the campus, the local community, and across the state and nation.