New OOGEEP Director Shares Program Updates

New OOGEEP Director

Shares Program Updates

KRISTI R. GARABRANDT | The Daily Jeffersonian USA TODAY NETWORK

John Schlichter, new executive director of the OO- “It really shaped my life being part of a small comGEEP (Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program), munity and being part of the agricultural community, recently shared his background too,” Schlichter said. “So, going on and OOGEEP updates during a to be a state rep and working with Coffee and Commerce Zoom meet- natural resources I ended up on the ing hosted by the Cambridge Area finance community. I had a lot of opChamber of Commerce. portunity there to try to make a dif-

Schlichter first shared that his of- ference. I lead the charge in bringing fice is the OOGEEP office whose Ohio in compliance with No Child mission is to educate Ohioans on Left Behind.” the natural gas and oil industry Schlichter said that was one of the is located in Granville. He also not- first things handed to him when he ed that eastern Ohio is really fortu- got to the legislature and he is very nate to have a lot of planning and proud of that accomplishment. education going on. After leaving the legislature, he

Schlichter is originally a farm- went back into agriculture working er from Fayette County. He rented with a non-GMO soybean company and operated a farm in the county working with exports. just north of Washington Court- In 2012, he went to the Department house until 2006 when it was shut of Agriculture as deputy director. down after the passing of the prop- John Schlichter In July, he was named executive dierty owner. He farmed for over 30 Executive Director Ohio Oil and Gas rector at OOGEEP. years. Energy Education Program “I really enjoy being here as part

In addition to farming, Schlichter of this group. We have a great held an interest in politics. He began his political ca- staff,” Schlichter said. “I really just enjoy the folks. They reer as a treasurer on the school board after realiz- are great people and they really care for the industry ing he needed to be more involved in the community. and that is what I have that has really been important He served on the school board for four years then went to this.” on to serve on a joint tri-county board of education be- Schlichter noted that OOGEEP is a nonprofit statefore running for Fayette County commissioner, a term wide education program and public outreach program. he held for four years. “That is what our main focus is,” Schlichter said. “We

“I love being a county commissioner. You are at that do a lot of teacher trainings. We do a lot of firefightlevel where you know everybody,” Schlichter said. “You er trainings. We hand out the oil and gas flyers. We know everything that goes on in the county as far as do geology workshops. We do STEM workshops with development. We did a lot of work with the chamber teachers. So we are all about education and all about of commerce and I grew to appreciate the work that trying to show the communities and the State of Ohio they do.” not just Eastern Ohio, we try to show the whole state

In 2002, he campaigned for the state representative as to what the oil and gas industry means to their daily seat for the 85th House District which encompassed lives.” all of Fayette County and parts of Ross and Pickaway Schlichter said he believes that with the U.S. being counties. the number one oil producer and number one gas pro-

He held that position for six years. He ran again in ducer that education is important. He also noted that 2008 and lost. Ohio is currently fifth in production in the U.S.

Schlichter said that during his time in politics he did “The oil and gas industry employs over 200,000 peoa lot of agriculture work and used his background in ple in Ohio so it’s something that is extremely imporeducation to do some education work. tant that we spread that message and get that word

Schlichter and his wife have three grown children out,” Schlichter said. If you look at some of the teacher and a grandson. workshops that we have done since we started in 1998, Update continued on page 9

Update continued from page 8 we have put 3,103 teachers through our workshop.”

According to Schlichter, when the teachers come to the workshop they are asked how many students they will impact this year and on average it’s about 100 students each teacher impacts in a year.

“So with 3,000 teachers, that a lot of kids that we have impacted,” Schlichter said. “We can probably say that through our programs, teachers have touched millions of kids. So, that is something we are very proud of.”

The firefighter training started in 1999 and since that time they have trained over 1,693 firefighters in 687 departments in 60 of Ohio’s counties, according to Schlichter.

“The outreach of education we have been super strong here and we have been able to continue that outreach and hope to continue this year,” Schlichter said. “We have done two online and we have done a webinar. We have also done an in-person program on geology this summer. There were fewer people involved in our geology this summer because we tried social distancing.”

OOGEEP has given out 531 scholarships to 328 students to help them get their start in the oil and gas industry.

For science fairs, there have been 296 state science fair awards for 261 students from 154 schools in 54 Ohio counties, according to Schlichter.

Schlichter said that his office is trying to that number to include all Ohio counties. OOGEEP is making an effort to push toward the western and southwestern parts of the state.

OOGEEP has recently started working on the largest public awareness campaign they have ever done, according to Schlichter. It has already started on social media sites and internet ads. They have plans for the beginning of September to start commercials on network and cable TV.

“We are super proud of the things we have done as far as educating so far,” Schlichter said. “But that is not where we stop. As we move forward, I just have to say that it is so important for us to work with the folks that we are partners and try to get the word out and try to have them help us get the word out. It’s not about highlighting OOGEEP, it’s about highlighting the hard work that the men and women in our industry do every day. They deliver essential energy to Ohio.”

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