It has been awhile since my last post so guess it’s time to get back at it! Things are staying busy and no shortage of things to get done. Here are a few things I have been doing.
Projects:
- Helping three different farmers from St. Paul to Independence to Albany with different versions of FEMA Elevation Certificates. What an interesting learning experiences these have been.
- Helping a high school & college buddy with family farm boundary issues.
- Helping an Aurora farmer review boundaries and legal descriptions of inherited properties.
- Helping Foothills Community Church with an ALTA (American Land Title Assoc.) site mapping project.
- Helping a Newberg area farmer review boundary lines & neighbor access challenges.
- Helped a past commercial client that I worked for three different times throughout my career and with three different firms. He found me by Googling my name from PLS stamp on a 1999 drawing he had.
- Having fun working on larger rural properties that have awesome views! Nothing like being on farm lands and viewing the beautiful mountains around us. One site we could see Mt St Helens, Mt Adams, Mt Hood and downtown Portland.
- Becoming a mediator helping people solve or work through property challenges.
- Helping a surveying student gain work experience and I gain a great worker! I have a Clark Community College Surveying program student working part time with me. He is completing the 2 year Surveying program in 1 year and then he plans to transfer to the new OIT Wilsonville campus for a Geomatics Bachelor Degree.
- Helping with Bear Creek Byway which is lead by a Molalla Ford Institute Community Leadership program, to construct a path and pedestrian bridge over Bear Creek.
Student Presentations this year:
- Molalla High School Career Day for Sophomores and Juniors.
- MRA (Molalla River Academy) talked to 7th & 8th grade about Land Surveying for their upcoming playground project.
- Molalla Ag Mechanics class; talked to students about Land Surveying and demonstrated surveying gear.
- North Marion High School College & Career Fair.
- North Marion High School math classes; presented PLSO Trigstar math test that relates trigonometry to the field of surveying.
- North Marion High School; judged three classes of student projects for the connection of math to futuristic architecture.
It is feels good to be able to give back helping to educate and provide career options to the next generation. Many of us Surveyors fell into the profession and we love it. We just need to take time to let others know what we do, how we do it and what opportunities are available. As I have said many times, if I won the lottery (I heard you have to first purchase a ticket) I would keep on surveying for I find it that enjoyable!
Until next time, I hope you are doing what you enjoy and also giving back to help others know what you do and the career options out there!
