Exploring the outdoors has been a lifetime fascination for Elaine Dean. “I love the freedom of not knowing what you’re going to see or encounter,” she said. Dean likes venturing into unknown areas.
She recalled camping with her family at Terra Star RV park or Belle Starr park. “I was a Checotah girl,” she said. “Eufaula Lake was in my back yard.
” After graduating from Checotah High in 2006, Dean sold insurance and worked for a daycare center. She said she couldn’t find a profession “that called me.” Then she learned about Oklahoma game wardens.
“I was like, ‘yeah it was something I was meant to do,’” she said. Dean attended Northeastern State University and studied to become a game warden. She said she took a lot of classes in managing different types of wildlife and how to prepare animal traps.
She decided to prepare herself physically for the position as well. “I wanted to be better able to protect myself in the field,” she said. “I didn’t want to worry too much about my own capabilities.
I want to learn as much as I can so I can be ready for anything.” Dean started taking classes at Soaring Eagle Jiu Jitsu. She said she noticed there were few women in the class.
“We wanted to gear a class toward them, a self defense women’s only class,” she said. “My coach was like, ‘Can you teach it?’ I said ‘Sure, I can do that.’ He believed in me, so I believed in me.
” She has taught four classes so far, with three or four in each .