Water Well Journal
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/629532
FIELD NOTES Teaching the next generation By Raymond L. Straub Jr., PG E ven though I have been a ground- water professional for a number of years, I am still a student. I try to learn something new from every project. I've had my fair share of mentors, many of whom have passed on. However, I have never really seen myself as a men- tor or teacher because I still feel I have so much left to learn. This past summer, though, I was asked to provide a professional presen- tation at an environmental seminar. The purpose of the seminar was to help dis- seminate information about environ- mental hazards and pollution. My presentation was about subsur- face and groundwater evaluation. The seminar was well attended. Little did I know in the audience was Dr. James W. Ward, a geoscience professor from An- gelo State University's award-winning Department of Geosciences. He approached me after my presenta- tion and asked if I would be interested in teaching a few short classes at the university on geoscience, drilling, and groundwater. Ward said he wanted to bring current real world information and experience to his senior level classes to help the students understand the expec- tations that would be placed on them in the field upon graduation. I was flattered and agreed to teach the classes, but I actually wondered if he would really call back. As fate would have it, I met him again during the fall and he asked if I was ready to teach— "How about next week?" he said. And just like that I was teaching a university class. Visualizing Geology Over the next seven days, I prepared the course outline and made a Power- Point presentation to help the students visualize the material. After some delib- eration and taking some cues from my Field Notes articles, I settled on dis- cussing drill site geology, bringing out- crop geology to a smaller scale. If any of you have ever had the experience of working with new field people, you know it can be pretty tough on them to transform from seeing geology in out- crop to interpreting geology on the drill site from a pile of mud and cuttings. It can be overwhelming for some. During the course of the presenta- tion, we discussed necessary steps and the importance of reviewing available site data prior to going into the field. In Volcanic hoodoos in the Davis Mountains in Texas. Photo courtesy Raymond L. Straub Jr., PG FIELD NOTES continues on page 26 Twitter @WaterWellJournl WWJ February 2016 25