California Surveyors Forums

You mostly do not know who you might have made an impression on. There are not a lot of high school student who know what they want to be yet. I did not get into surveying until my late 20's. The impression you make may not sink in for years. When the kids do figure out that they want to get serious about a career, they could remember the enthusiasm you had about your career and decide that that is the direction they want to go.

I have been to a couple of high school presentations or career days. Yes photos do make the biggest impression. New and old aerial photos or maps with photo overlays are popular. One of my most popular photos was a picture of my boat. It is good to show that you have fun at work and also in you off time.
GPS receivers did not impress the kids, an old Total station something that they can look thru and be fascinated on how it can measure to the funny little piece of glass that always looks you in the eye.

Generally a lot of the kids are there to screw off, but there will always be a few that ask some really good questions. Kids in science classes seem to be more engaged.

Don't give up. We need to recruit bright young minds to further the profession. Refer them to the CSU Fresno program where the students do very well in receiving scholarship. I'm sure it was over $80,000 given out this year at the CSU Geomatics conference.

Montana,
You probably did better than you think.
Rember, there are only a few of us weird mind-sets who really love Land Surveying.

If you touched one, then you've succeeded.
Out of a billion people in california, there are only 6000 of us liscensed and practicing. (maybe less)

Forget the gimicks. (no disrespect). There is no "sugar coating" the respectable profession of land surveying. I'm betting myself $5 that one or two of the kids you touched will investigate Lans Surveying in less than 4 years. It just takes a while.

I hated Land Surveying because of seeing what my Dad went thru.
I've been in land surveying 31 years. and a lot more if you count the times my dad dragged me out on saturdays and summer days to help him stake subdivisions etc. if you count that its been 41 years.

Youve done more of a wonderful thing that you'll ever realize.
By giving of yourself you've demonstrated your love of the profession.
These young people will "feel" that and the onse so inclined will eventually persue.

"Good" job Mountain. . . you're my hero 8^)

I did 4 years of presentations (TrigStar) at the local high school, and had many of the same reservations/questions you have. I gave it up and taught a boundary class at the community college, thinking that it would reach them at a better age. I like your career fair idea. Catch them when they are "really" primed and ready to consider something different.

My high school drafting teacher decided that his students needed something more interesting to work on than the usual mechanical parts, floor plans, etc., so he brought in a transit, a level rod, and a copy of a topo map that he worked on from a river canyon somewhere.

Prior to that, I had no idea what to do after HS. The survey/mapping that we did led me to decide on surveying as a career. It's all I've done for work in my adult life. There is also an LS or two in Michigan that went to that HS when I was there.

I don't know about the give away props, unless they relate directly to surveying, but I think you do need something to grab attention. For me it was being able to see and use the gadgets (transit, level rod), and see and create the results of using those gadgets (topo map). I also saw it as a better alternative to the boring office bound life of an engineer, while utilizing the technical aspects that were drawing me (sort of) toward engineering.

HS seniors are probably a perfect audience. Many are just realizing that life is going to change dramatically for them in a few months and have no idea what they are going to do at that point, or may be considering one or more options that don't quite fit what they want out of a job. Drawing comparisons and contrasts to related and more recognized fields would probably be a good strategy.

Not sure of your location in the state, but you should consider getting involved in Trigstar with your local CLSA chapter. It's another tool used to get surveying into the high school classroom.