Full Transcript for Education and Mining

course. 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:47.920 So that that was the the craziest part of it. 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:49.439 That's amazing. 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:50.319 That is. 00:04:50.879 --> 00:04:56.399 And as you talked about, you know, there's a lot of mixed opinions in the in the general public when it comes to mining. 00:04:56.560 --> 00:05:01.120 So, how has the public responded to your idea of a mining course in your school? 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:08.480 And it it's really interesting because I have the kids who know nothing, of course. 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:16.240 So um uh a lot of the kids who are in my class right now, it's it's very male heavy, which is interesting. 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:20.000 Um, because of course most males want to learn about mining. 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:26.879 Um, but there are some females in the course, and then a lot of the counselors have come up to me and like, oh, you're doing the mining course. 00:05:26.959 --> 00:05:27.600 Have you heard about this? 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:28.560 Have you heard about that? 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:33.120 And it it's it's very interesting where I'm actually getting the opinions. 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:37.439 Um, and they want to know more about it, which is really cool. 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:46.240 And I've I've actually reached out to other teachers, like, go do this training, it's amazing, it's very relevant for like chemistry teachers and stuff like that. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:54.160 And um, the word is starting to spread more and more about mining throughout my campus and my district, which is really exciting. 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:59.600 So I haven't gotten, I don't think I've really gotten any negative feedback on it. 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:23.279 Um, but I'm really trying to make this course not only about the mining, but about the society and the communities around it to make it well, not to make it because mining is very environmentally friendly nowadays, but actually teaching that portion because that is one of the misconceptions of mining's dirty and just all hard work in the mines, and that's not the reality anymore. 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:30.480 So it's been really interesting learning that and communicating that within um not only my school, but the district as well. 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:31.439 That's amazing. 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:33.199 And how have your students felt about it? 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:35.040 You just said that you finished day one. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:36.480 How do you feel about it? 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:38.560 How do your students feel about it? 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:41.600 I'm just so stinking excited. 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:46.000 Um, I I always joke, I write a lot of curriculum. 00:06:46.079 --> 00:06:53.759 I'm I'm a huge education nerd, um, especially science education, but like I call them my baby, but like this mining course is my baby. 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:56.399 I'm like, I wrote this, it's it's mine. 00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:00.399 Um, so just so much excitement, so much joy. 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:05.519 Um, I have a ton of kids in that class that I've taught before. 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:08.480 So it's really cool seeing them for a second time. 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:12.160 They took my geology course in the past and now they're back for mining. 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:14.160 I'm just I'm excited. 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:21.439 I am so excited to connect with um the mining industries and have guest speakers and go on field trips. 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:26.399 And I I'm just I'm just like super duper excited. 00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:29.839 And hopefully the kids in that class can feel that joy too. 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:34.720 Cause I I'm just I'm really excited to to teach this amazing content. 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:36.800 Well, I'm not even in the class, and I'm excited. 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:37.839 I don't know about you, Amelia. 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:38.959 Can I can I join? 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:40.800 Yeah, can we join the class? 00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:44.720 Well, and I think that people come up to me and ask too. 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:46.399 I'm like, oh I wish. 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:48.399 That's amazing. 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:53.360 And has how has the industry helped you to kind of develop materials for this course? 00:07:53.439 --> 00:07:57.040 Or are there any plans to do so in the future to kind of bring the industry in? 00:07:57.199 --> 00:08:00.160 I know you were just talking about guest speakers a little bit. 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:10.879 Yeah, no, I um uh Whitney Lennon with the I think it's Arizona Mining Association actually brought me in, was it a year ago, two years ago? 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:17.439 And I I spoke um there, and all of a sudden I've just got this flood of people from the industry. 00:08:17.519 --> 00:08:26.480 Um, I got invited to the AEMA um summer summit uh two summers ago, and I spoke there, and I'm just like, I'm just a teacher. 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:28.560 What what am I doing here? 00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:38.559 Um, but in the end, the industry needs educated people to go into the mining industry. 00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:44.399 Um, so it's just like people aren't getting educated on this stuff. 00:08:44.639 --> 00:08:54.399 Um, and at the the summer summit, um, I talked to some people who um teach in Nevada, and Nevada's the silver state. 00:08:54.559 --> 00:09:01.279 They have the um the mining stuff within their curriculum, they teach it from kindergarten on. 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:06.480 And I'm like, why don't we have this in Arizona or the copper state? 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:23.759 Um, but uh I think getting the word out and being able to communicate with industry people, not only to bring them into the classroom, but to educate the students on what sort of options there are out there is really, really important. 00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:28.320 So, yes, I am planning on all sorts of interacting.

00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:35.360 Hopefully, they'll come in and do presentations and all sorts of stuff because I've got lots of ideas that I just have to follow through with them. 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:37.039 That's always the hardest part. 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:37.759 Right. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:40.720 Um scheduling. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:42.159 Scheduler. 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:44.720 No, that sounds amazing though. 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:47.600 I mean, think of all those opportunities that you've been able to experience. 00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:52.000 The summit that you went to, imagine how many of your students could go to something like that. 00:09:52.240 --> 00:10:00.159 I personally go to the South Dakota School of Mines, and it would be so amazing if people could come in to that school already, already knowing about all these mining facts. 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:03.919 I mean, you could probably clap out of so many classes, didn't you think? 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:05.360 Absolutely. 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:06.240 Yeah. 00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:07.519 Yeah. 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:10.960 So what do you actually hope that the outcome is from your curriculum? 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:14.960 What if you just had a couple things for your students to gain, what would it be? 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:26.000 Um, so throughout my curriculum, I'm teaching them the history, the science behind mining, and all of the stuff of how we get the materials and then the environmental stuff too. 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:33.200 But my very last unit is going to be where they see themselves in mining careers for the future. 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:53.600 Um, so not only do I want to have guest speakers in so that they can see, but I would love for them to write resumes and maybe even have mock interviews so that they can see themselves in a mining career or um going into a university to do mining. 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:58.639 So it really is a course that is going, okay, we're learning all this stuff. 00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:01.039 How can we actually use it? 00:11:01.440 --> 00:11:03.200 So that's my end result. 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:12.480 And even if they're not interested and they don't want to go into mining, now they can talk to other people about these awesome opportunities that they learned about in my class. 00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:14.240 That is amazing. 00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:24.879 I think that as somebody who I didn't even realize I grew up in a mining family, my parents both worked in aggregate, and I just kind of assumed that that was different. 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:37.200 I mean, I this sort of course would have been so helpful, especially for for a young person looking at what am I gonna do with the rest of my life? 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:38.720 Yeah, yeah. 00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:42.000 And they they always freak out because they're like, oh no, it's the science. 00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:44.240 I'm like, we need people in social media. 00:11:44.399 -->

00:11:50.320 Like, if you're good with social media, we need people to communicate that for mining companies. 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:53.360 Because not everybody can do that. 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:57.039 Interested in nursing, the mines need nurses. 00:11:57.360 --> 00:12:02.159 There's like so many career opportunities within the mines, it's it's wild. 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:05.679 So yeah, I'm excited to communicate with that with them. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:16.960 We are so excited, and we're going to have to check back in with you at the end of this school year because I know you were talking about it maybe being uh one or a two-semester class. 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:19.519 It is a full school year class, so yeah. 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:30.320 Um, when I originally wrote it, uh what we were trying to do with my district um is for the senior classes just to have semester long courses that they can kind of pick and choose between. 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:31.919 That didn't become a reality. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:34.639 So they're like, okay, you're doing a full year class. 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:44.159 And I'm like, oh, okay, let me stretch this stuff out a little bit, which is exciting because I I get to dig in more and I I'm learning while I'm teaching too. 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:48.080 So it's it's been a an awesome experience. 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:53.679 But yeah, it's it's been a lot of work, but a lot of really, really cool stuff to learn. 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:55.039 That's amazing. 00:12:55.200 --> 00:12:59.759 I think I have one more question for you, and then if Amelia has another question, fantastic. 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:16.399 My question, bringing it to South Dakota, what can the industry do to maybe make it a little bit easier for teachers if they're wanting to start a class or a program like yours in their own, in their own home, in their own schools and their communities? 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:18.240 Great question. 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:30.159 Um, and that's a tricky one because not all teachers are like me, and I I I hate to put teachers down because we're in a hard industry as well. 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:34.000 Um, but there's teachers who don't want to improve themselves. 00:13:34.159 --> 00:13:38.639 They don't want to write new courses because, like I shared, it's a lot of work. 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:39.120 Yeah. 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:59.919 Um, but being able to work with U of A and having amazing contacts through them, um, and just being able to network with uh industry people and people who have um field trips and opportunities for them to come into the classroom is incredibly helpful. 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:07.600 Um, making our lives as teachers as easy as possible is is gonna help the majority of people. 00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:18.639 Um, and then just offering I hate to say free, but I I know teachers usually don't do stuff unless it's free or we're getting paid for it. 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:25.039 Um, so if you have opportunities like that, that is really gonna help educators across the United States. 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:27.039 So that's fantastic. 00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:50.159 A quick note so SDMIA actually teams up with the South Dakota School of Mines once a year, and we provide free and paid teacher workshop days where teachers actually get to come in and they hear from professors at the South Dakota School of Mines for one day, and then they actually get to go out and tour companies on the second day. 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:50.720 Oh wow. 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:53.039 And so it's a free event for them to attend. 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:55.120 They get continuing education credits. 00:14:55.440 --> 00:15:00.879 We have given them stipends for the last three years, which is how long we've been doing this course. 00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:04.399 Um, and we've always seen these great results from it. 00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:10.799 And we give them all of the education materials that SDMIA has or our member companies have. 00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:14.960 So if they want to do, oh, what is mineral exploration? 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:17.039 Here's how you can do it with Play-Doh. 00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:24.159 You don't actually have to go home and bake because gosh, I can only imagine how tired teachers are at the end of the day. 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:26.879 I'm tired after one career fair. 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:32.480 Couldn't imagine doing it every day, all day. 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:35.039 Do you have any other questions, Amelia? 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:38.559 I don't have any questions, but I just want to say thank you so much for what you do. 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:49.200 As a as a college student right now, it's so important that we have teachers out there that really want to educate students, really want to bring up these interesting topics like mining that are so essential in today's world. 00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:51.200 And so thank you so much for what you do. 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:51.840 Yes. 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:52.639 Of course. 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:53.200 Thank you. 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:59.840 Well, thank you again, Sarah, for joining us and sharing all of the amazing work you're doing in Arizona. 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.799 And I am so excited to see how this course goes for you. 00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:17.679 And I promise, uh, as somebody who serves on AEMA's board, I will be reaching out to hopefully have you come and talk to us a little bit more as time goes on. 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:21.679 Yes, I'm I'm super excited to see how it works out. 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:35.120 Fantastic! Well, SDMIA would like to thank all of our amazing educators in our nation schools, and we really look forward to working with our own local educators here in South Dakota to further the understanding of minerals and mining. 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:36.960 Thanks for joining us for this episode. 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:41.600 If you liked this conversation, follow the show so you don't miss what's next. 00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:42.799 And send us your questions. 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:44.960 We'll use them to help shape future episodes. 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:50.000 Join us next episode where we will be unearthing the complexities of mineral exploration.