A (4:41)

Thanks so much, Eleanor, for that compliment. With that in mind, especially your extensive background in researching material, how many students

B (4:50)

have taken the course since the spring of 2020? Roughly 200 students have used the Digital Oil 101 materials, which is a pretty significant number given that our class sizes tend to be quite small. And also the course has gone from one section a semester now to two, in part because students enjoy it so much and learn so much. So that's a pretty. That's a not inconsequential number over the last couple of years.

A (5:23)

So remind me, is that juniors and seniors or just seniors?

B (5:28)

Actually, this elective is only open to seniors. Juniors, the juniors take US history.

A (5:35)

So as you went through this, what made Oil 101 a good fit for your classroom and is it leading to follow up discussions or projects or people looking for other material?

B (5:49)

Well, from the beginning it really helped my students understand the oil industry, the value chain. For example, the section on lng, right, was incredibly helpful when we were talking about the geopolitical aspect of the course and thinking the conversation we had in class in the fall when what was going to happen with gas supply coming out of Russia, given the war in Ukraine and sort of the what's Europe going to do, we were able to have a really informed conversation about potential of lng. They also understood though the barriers, the cost of building, reliquetion, transportation. So every kind of every conversation we have is informed. Not only have they gotten this basic understanding of how the oil industry works, but it has really enriched all the conversations we have beyond that. So in the history section of the course, when we're talking about Titusville, we can begin to understand they've already taken the oil 101 and the entire upstream, midstream, downstream. There's this moment of like, oh, so that's where that came from. And so in particularly, you know, in the economics component of the class, we've been able to use the marketing and information in downstream about margins and capital, the difference between upstream capital risk, that's just made the class, it's just taken it and enriched it and taken it to a level of reality in the real world that has been tremendously, tremendously helpful.

A (7:33)

So what is some of the feedback that students have given you about the course?

B (7:38)

So one of the things that has, I think struck all of us, including me at the beginning, part of it is the reality that any industry is as complicated and Oil101 makes it very simple and very clear. But there are that many moving parts and that many different parts of different components of the industry, I think really surprises them. They absolutely appreciate feeling knowledgeable. I think a lot of times high school students feel, particularly seniors feel like they are being talked down to or they're being treated as if they don't know anything. And I think they find it really empowering to be able to say no, I really know how the oil industry works. There have been two things that students have come back to, alums have come back and talked to me about. One is how many of them have been able to use the information they gained in my course and from Oil 101 in particular in talking, in interviews for jobs, whether they're internships in energy. I've had a couple of students who've gone on and study petroleum engineering I have one student at Brown University who's doing some entrepreneurial work in the hydrogen space, all of which was inspired by what they learned in the class. So that is amazing when, when a 22 year old can say to me, I nailed that interview because I want what I've learned. That's fantastic from the teaching, from being a teacher, I mean, what more do you want? Maybe on a little bit more personal level. I've had a lot of students tell me that it's enriched their conversations at home. A good number of my students have some connection, their families have some connection to the oil or energy industries and they feel. My students feel confident now or interested at least even interested in talking to their parents about what they do. And if any of you have ever had a high school student who the report you get back every day. What did you do at school today? Nothing. Which certainly has been my experience often. I found a lot of people said that this class, because it's practical and it's real and it's something that they can talk to in a very concrete way with their families, that it sparked a lot of conversations which is a completely unanticipated benefit. And I think that's fantastic.

A (10:09)

That is sure interesting to hear that coming out of a student community really enriches what we've been trying to do. So that's just been awesome. I thought of something recently. Did this approach help you prepare for when you shifted to remote training during

B (10:27)

COVID when the timing of this was really interesting. My students actually used. This was one of the last things we did in the spring of 20 before everything fell apart and then actually I'm fortunate in that our school, we were back in person by the time we were using it a second time. So I never really had the opportunity to use this in a fully remote setting. But one of the things I've realized is when there's a kid who's out sick, we've got people traveling for athletics. This is or also a lot of times seniors in the fall in both semesters are traveling to look at colleges and it's the ideal tool for them to. To not fall behind and to stay on top of the class. If they miss a day where it's discussion based or something, an interactive experiment in class, it's very hard for them to make up. But Oil101 is perfect, the perfect tool when you can't be there. And so I certainly hope we never have another situation where we have to teach remotely. But I now know that that can be my go to tool in dealing with a situation like that. But that's where I can start and spend. One of the biggest challenges was adapting curriculum to going online. And I now know that I've got something that could give me a kind of a soft start where they could do that work and then I would have time to figure out how to change and adapt. So it's a great gift and a little bit of sense of security that I have that in my back pocket at all times.

A (12:09)

Let me try another tact. When you discuss the course with other administrators or teachers, what do they think about this partnership and especially your class?

B (12:19)

It is a conversation stopper. I do a lot of professional development now thanks to technologies like Zoom from people from all over the country. And I'll introduce myself by saying I teach US History and a senior energy elective. And I get a lot of very curious follow up questions. And as far as I've been able to determine, I don't think there's another high school class like this, certainly not one that I've been able to find. And believe me, I looked when I was having to create the class from scratch, I did a deep dive looking for anything that I might be able to sort of piggyback off of. And I have some data on that when I propose this class. The college counselors were curious and so they did a lot of investigating and couldn't find anything that really was similar to this class and one other data point. One of my former students is now in the Cox Business School at smu. She attended a speaker series that involved Christian Wallace, who wrote the article for Texas Monthly called Boomtown and then turned it into a podcast, which we also use in my class. And when she met him, she mentioned that she'd listened to parts of his podcast in her high school energy class. And here's a guy who is in that space, thinks about energy, interacts with all kinds of people, and he was stunned. And so I think that piece has been really interesting. And then as far as administrators, everyone, all of my administrative team here at school is incredibly supportive. As I mentioned, I've gone from teaching it one section a semester to two sections a semester, effectively doubling the number of students that are taking it. And when I explained to them what a key role Oil101 has played and the support from EKT, they are just thrilled. And it's very unusual, at least in my world of independent schools, for there to be partnerships with business or people in the quote unquote, real world and to be able to have forged this real partnership that supports me as a teacher has just been invaluable.

A (14:35)

Eleanor, thank you so much for your insights. You've been a real innovator in energy education and we are happy you selected us to be part of it. Any other thoughts, stories, ideas you would like to share?

B (14:50)

I think one of the things that's that's been most interesting to me is learning the stories from my students. Once they learn really what energy and the oil industry is like, where they see the connections with their families and their family history. It's a the knowledge they get from my course and course materials from EKT has really helped them look at their families in a different way. I have them do a creative writing piece where they talk about it's an oil biography and they use the knowledge they've gotten in the class to take another look at their family. And I've had people find old Super 8 movies of their grandparents, you know, roughneck and as a working as a roughneck back in the 50s and 60s, it's just been really cool to see the many, many ways and the many levels in which energy, and particularly the oil industry, impacts people's lives in this area. And then also I'm really looking forward to I'm going to spend some time this summer. Every, every semester I kind of revamp the course, reevaluate things that are working well and things that I want to add. And I'm really looking forward to adding some of the EKT segments on power the power 101. Not surprising. Students are really interested in whatever happened to them in February of 21. And I love to bulk up that part of the course with some, again, some real substance from ekt. And I also have my students. Their final project is a oil public policy memo to a leader of a nation trying to comply with the Paris Accords. And I'm really looking forward to incorporating some of the units from EKT on renewables that will give again more substance and heft to their research. I think that's going to be a tremendous thing for helping them be better writers and thinkers about the energy transition.

A (16:47)

The energy transition, as we all know, is a very hot topic. So if there's any way we can help bring your students into the real new world with Power 101, we will certainly do that Now.

B (17:01)

I'm really looking forward to our continued partnership and opening up new ways to learn from my students. Thank you so much.

A (17:10)

Well, my thanks to everyone for listening. Our company name, EKT Interactive, stands for Energy Knowledge Transfer. We digitally capture the extensive knowledge of industry experts to pass it on to the next generation in a convenient format. If you are a professional or student that is interested in the oil, gas, power or renewables industry and want to quickly learn how that industry works, check out our Digital on Demand Training Series at www.ektinteractive.

B (17:51)

Sa.