WEBVTT

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So today is our last day of Evo mercy

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Vessel Operators course where we spent

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all week with uh a couple of students

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from around the Tulsa district teaching

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them how to safely operate the vessels .

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Today is the last day of that , which

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means it's testing day . We start today

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with a written exam and then we

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transition to the lake

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and everything from the classroom to

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the water , getting the boat off of the

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trailers and the water is student led .

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So at this point , the instructors are

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just observing and making sure that

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they're doing everything as they were

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taught in a safe manner .

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I fell in love with the idea of being

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able to use my degree um in biology

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while also helping the public and

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interacting with the public and , and

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working the national resource side of

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things . That's , that's always been a

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big passion for me . Prior to EVO , my

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experience with boats was limited . Um

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Other than being a passenger on a few

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boats , um I've driven a few jet skis

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but but as far as being the captain and

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the operator of the vessel , little to

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none , the most challenging thing has

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been getting out of my head , taking in

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and absorbing everything that they're

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teaching is like a sponge . But also

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keeping in mind like the the natural

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resource elements , the those factors

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um come into the wind , come against

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the wind . Always keep in mind of where

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your other boats are ahead on the

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swivel . That's probably been the

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biggest struggle in , in learning how

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to captain a vessel .

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So even though today is Test Day ,

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these students have the opportunity to

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run all of the boats we have available

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and we're evaluating them through the

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week making sure that they're making

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progress in the right direction . Um

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And then we do only test on one vessel .

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We do that by random draw and then we

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trust that those students will take the

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knowledge they learned here and go back

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to their home project and continue to

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practice on the vessel that they'll be

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operating for .