I'm Back!

[husker boxster]

Welcome back!

It sounds like we're on parallel "tracks". In 2017 I was invited to become an instructor. Have really enjoyed the experience. It allowed me to lean on my work experience of providing computer support to a wide range of users. My work taught me that no 1 canned process works for everyone, you need to figure out how they learn and approach them from that angle. Same is true with instructing drivers - everyone has different experiences and learns differently. Being able to connect with a student and key in how to they learn is part of the fun. Then when the light bulb goes on and they do what you've been telling them is such a cool feeling.

Then in early 2020, I was asked to become one of the club's Chief Driving Instructors. I think the people who asked were expecting to arm wrestle with me to convince me, but I surprised them by instantly agreeing. Once again, I could lean on my past work experience allowing me to stand in front of people and teach in a classroom setting. With COVID hitting, we only had 2 DEs in 2020. I shadowed our main CDI at the first event and was supposed to teach my 1st class in Oct. Unfortunately, our DE was the same w/e as Indy and luckily my club was understanding in me wanting to attend Indy. Can't be 2 places at once. So I taught my 1st class back in May of this yr and it was great. Loved every min of it. We've had 3 additional DEs and I've done the classroom training for all of them.

It is very satisfying to mold the next generation of DE drivers. I've had a wide variety of students that I've instructed and a variety of classroom students. In a typical DE w/e, during the final 2 Sat sessions we generally let our students solo and we'll combine the novice group with the intermediate run group during the final session to give them a bit more traffic to contend with. In our last DE in Oct, I was watching the final Sat session from the grandstand. There were 20+ cars on the track. I started calculating that at least 2/3 of them were either past students of mine or had attended my classroom training. Had kind of a proud papa moment. It is very rewarding to give back to the community.

Looking fwd to the spring and upcoming DE season.