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Mr. Wilson Santiago, Commander Flotilla 44, Sewaren, New Jersey – Interpreter |
Flotilla 44 of Sewaren, New Jersey was approached by the local Hispanic community of boaters requesting a New Jersey approved safe boating course that was also approved by and meets the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) standard.
None of the local commercial providers have offered this course to the community and as a result we have a large number of boaters operating on New Jersey waters without the New Jersey State Marine Police permit. The requirements state an eight hour course that is approved by the state police and authorized to be provided by state permitted instructors. The Auxiliary meets all the requirements, plus the “About Boating Safety” (ABS) text and exam are in Spanish for those that do not speak or are not fluent in English.
We put the offering out to the public and the response was over whelming. We wanted to restrict the first course to about 20 students and ended up with a class of 29 and another eight on a waiting list. We had our Flotilla Commander, Wilson Santiago and one civilian as our interpreters with our flotilla instructors; George Reilly, James Crincoli, as the instructors and a number of Auxiliarists as proctors throughout the day.
The local marina provided us with a room and facilities to give the course and we provided the table, chairs and media equipment as well as a provision of coffee and bottled water to the students.
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Proud students of the District’s first all-Spanish “About Boating Safety” class. |
Our local interpreter also translated the New Jersey State requirements into Spanish from English that is required to be presented as part of the course. My thanks to the folks at the National Supply Center for shipping both the Spanish text books and exams to us in a priority manner. The cooperation with our national public education team and the National Supply Center personnel was outstanding. Without their help and cooperation we would not have been able to hold the class. This class had to be held on a Sunday as many were individual business owners and that was the only day that their operations were down.
The class participation was excellent. The process was the instructor would read the slide, present the information concerning that subject slide and the interpreter would then translate and ask for any questions. The questions were asked in both English and Spanish. Responses were given in Spanish so that all had full understanding. Instructors would also answer individual questions at the break and lunch periods.
Finally at the conclusion of the teaching presentations and review periods came the time for the exam. The class was given the opportunity to take a break or go right into the exam. They were all excited to skip the break and go for the final exam.
The exam included all the normal questions plus ten questions concerning the State of New Jersey specific. All of the student, save one, passed the exam.
Using the “AuxplusPE” program recorded all the student data. We were able to print out the individual certificates and cards of course completion. We presented them to all those that satisfactorily passed the ABS course. Their names and information would then be submitted into the New Jersey State Marine Police database to enable each to get their N.J. Boating Permit.
The instructors then had a final course evaluation and summary of what we did correctly and what could have been improved. The course evaluation showed that the ABS Spanish Text book was excellent and the information was presented very well for full understanding. Since that course was given we have been approached by another local community wanting us to repeat the course in their city with the fully support of the local Chamber of Commerce and the boating community.
We will never know how many lives we have saved or how many new friends we have made on the water. Knowing that we have both educated boaters on our local waters and are meeting the needs of the Hispanic community is a wonderful feeling.
Some Coast Guard Sector New York active duty personnel were very interested in knowing the results of our first course. They expressed thanks that we were addressing this local needs knowing well that we may have also saved their resources from having to go out and save some boater.
We look forward to bringing additional success stories to the Auxiliary and to the Public Education officers in the near future. The time and efforts do really count and are rewarding.
~efl 01-27-12