OERB honors school’s use of energy-related curriculum
TULSA — Micah Aytch, 12, said his mother has spoken with him before about well-site safety.
The fifth-grader said that his uncle had an energy-related accident once (thankfully, he’s fine), and Micah has noticed oil-related infrastructure near Daniel Webster High School and on the way to his grandmother’s house in McAlester.
Wednesday afternoon, Micah, along with the roughly 350 other students at Robertson Elementary School, got another lesson about well-site safety during an assembly hosted by the state agency Oklahoma Energy Resources Board.
“Don’t go into the oil derrick and don’t go into the tank,” Micah summarized after the assembly. “And don’t smell gas because it can burn you.”
The event Wednesday afternoon honored west Tulsa’s Robertson Elementary for being a 100 percent OERB school, meaning that all of the teachers have been through the state agency’s free teacher workshops and taught STEM curriculum in the classroom.
Representatives from OERB came to Tulsa to thank the school and to talk about well-site safety as well as to engage students in other energy-related education activities. OERB will pay for all of Robertson’s kindergarten through fifth-graders to take a field trip to Woolaroc Museum and Wildlife Preserve in Bartlesville.
The assembly was a day after the annual Well Site Safety Day at the state Capitol, during which OERB hosted students from across the state to commend their participation in the public awareness effort to educate residents on the dangers of venturing near well sites.
The timing also coincides with OERB’s seasonal push of campaigns that alert young people and their families about the dangers of playing or hanging out near well sites.
“It’s getting warmer — kids are wanting to get out and explore,” OERB spokeswoman Ashley Barcum said of the push they always do for their programs “Duh-Duh Dangerous” and “Lucky” during March and April. The campaigns target younger children and teenagers, respectively.
With thousands of the potentially dangerous well sites across the state, the agency’s goal is to ensure that residents know to avoid well sites and oilfield equipment.
Candace Stine, Robertson principal, is a certified OERB instructor who travels all over the state to teach educators the state agency’s curriculum.
In October, Stine said Robertson Elementary held an “OERB day” during which students engaged in grade-level appropriate activities and sessions to learn about the geology, the energy industry and safety. Stine said they also emphasized the nonrenewable nature of fossil fuels as well as energy conservation and recycling.
“It’s important because a lot of our kids, whether they realize it or not, are touched by the oil industry,” Stine said. “It’s part of our heritage.”