Two days of southern hospitality in Shelbyville came to an end on Wednesday. For the past two days the Southern
Indiana Operator’s Association (SIOA) hosted a Certification Review Course for people studying for their Operator Certification through the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. This session was on March 31 and April st and was held at the Shelbyville Community Center. SIOA (Shelly Higdon of Shelbyville WRCF) made sure there were light snacks and coffee/water for the attendees and delivered class paperwork. Then before the course ended on Wednesday Shelly returned with small gift bags (big enough to hold all the paperwork from class) and wastewater calendars from the Indiana Water Environment Association.
This year 13 students signed up for the course. Many of them were there to study for one of the exams and others were there to receive their 14 approved Technical Contact hours. We had students from Shelbyville, Greensburg, Osgood, New Palestine, Bedford, Warsaw and a few from businesses related to water and wastewater, just to get a better understanding of the field. We also had one student who is not in the wastewater field yet, but is studying for his Apprentice Class I certification hoping this will give him a leg up in securing a position at a plant.
This class was a little more quite than normal with very few questions. However it was satisfying to see raised eyebrows, notes being taken and even conversations regarding something I said in regards to something going on at their facility.
I also want to say a special Thank you to Brad Fix and his employees for helping to set this up and allowing Robin to take a few of us to tour their facility at lunch time on Wednesday. I know the tour really made some of the subjects in class come to life for those who have never seen a trickling filter, belt press, parshall flume, anaerobic digester or UV system.
As always I want to thank SIOA and the students in class. I also want to say good luck to those taking the test in the next few months.