DALLAS, Pa. — Penn State Wilkes-Barre held its first Surveying Career Summit on Oct. 16, providing high school students interested in surveying engineering with the opportunity to visit the campus and learn more about their field of interest.
“Surveying is one of the fastest growing fields right now and many surveyors are retiring from their positions, opening even more career opportunities,” said Alex Ellsworth, interim director of enrollment management. “We wanted to provide students with the opportunity to hear about this field from a different perspective and be able to speak with people in this industry.”
With a theme of “Exploring Jobs in Surveying Engineering Across Air, Land and Sea,” the event welcomed 10th- to 12th-grade students from several high schools across the state for a day of hands-on demonstrations as well as interactions with current students, faculty and employers for learning and networking.
“Students were able to hear about a range of different positions and all the opportunities available with a degree in surveying engineering,” Ellsworth said. “In addition to learning about traditional land surveying techniques, they saw demonstrations of equipment such as drones and virtual reality technology.”
The summit also served as a career fair for surveying engineering students at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, who were able to meet and network with employers in their field while learning about available positions.
“The career fair was a really great opportunity. I enjoyed how all of the companies did something different, since that really showed the diversity of the work that surveyors can be involved in,” said Lucas Carpenter, who is in his final year of surveying engineering. He serves as vice president of the Surveying Society and president of Lion Ambassadors. “It was definitely beneficial for me to get my name out there and meet professionals and also learn about job opportunities for me and all my classmates. I believe it really opened all of our eyes to the vast number of opportunities that await us after graduation.”
Nathan Crotts, who is also in his final year of surveying and is the president of the campus Surveying Society, said, “In past years, surveying students would have the opportunity to meet employers during weekly Surveying Society meetings. This year, we decided to invite companies to a one-day event. This was a day filled with prospective, new and current students exploring the world of the surveying industry. Students were able to meet leaders and representatives from companies to learn who they are and what they do. With the change of a career summit instead of weekly meetings with companies, this has allowed the Surveying Society to focus more on student needs, trips, events and forming connections with each other. For example, the club worked to guide students as they prepared résumés so that each student would have an appropriate résumé for the career summit."
Employers at the event included Barry Isett and Associates, CEC Engineering, Control Point, Crews Surveying, Dynamic Engineering, HRG, JHA Companies, Langan Engineering and Environmental Services, Leica Reality Capture, PennCore Consulting, RETTEW, SAM, Trumbull, United States Army Corps of Engineers and Verdantas.
“Eight members of our team have in one way or another been part of the surveying engineering program at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, with many other members of the team being alumni of other Penn State programs,” said Matt Tomazic, project surveyor with JHA. “The Surveying Career Summit was a great opportunity for both us and the students. It is our duty as professionals to promote our profession and this summit provided an opportunity to do so. I believe this enables the students to get a feel for the future of the profession and show what options may be available, in addition to career paths they may wish to pursue upon graduation.”
Penn State Wilkes-Barre offers a bachelor’s degree in surveying engineering and an associate degree in surveying engineering technology. Program alumni are working for a wide variety of employers, including federal government agencies. Surveying engineering students at Penn State Wilkes-Barre can take advantage of numerous campus opportunities, including the Surveying Society, which brings potential employers to campus and provides networking opportunities for students. Recent students also attended a national competition and state conference in surveying.