Well here's my story in a nutshell:  I live with my wife, Kathy in Patton Township, Pennsylvania, which is situated just NW of

State College, Pennsylvania, home of the Pennsylvania State University.  We grew up and lived the first part of our adult lives in

the NW suburbs of Chicago.  Taking advantage of a great career opportunity for Kathy we relocated to central Pennsylvania

in 1994. 

Professional Life:

Over the first half of my business career I've sold computer equipment, estimated and sold fabricated steel and aluminum, consulted

on automatic identification, EDI, and on-line order entry systems, and was most recently an office manager for a local cable television

operator.  After a corporate restructuring (read lay off,) I took some time off to take stock of what I liked

about my career and what I didn't like.  Since I liked solving problems, going to different work sites, and seeing how things get built,

I decided early in 2006 to return to my earlier studies in civil engineering, but this time with an interest towards becoming a

professional land surveyor.  I wanted something more lay off proof, something not easily off-shored. 

This involved a scary proposition; it had been over twenty years

since I graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago (B.S. in Marketing,) but I would need to "go back to school." 

In order to become a licensed Professional Land Surveyor in Pennsylvania, I will need to:

• Graduate from a two year ABET® accredited surveying technology program

• Pass the NCEES Fundamentals of Surveying exam to become a certified Surveyor-In-Training, "SIT"

• As a SIT, build at least four years progressive professional experience under the supervision of licensed land surveyors

• Finally pass the NCEES Principles and Practice of Surveying national and state specific exam.

Over the Spring of 2006 I applied and was accepted into the A.A.S. in Surveying Technology program at the Pennsylvania College of

Technology in Williamsport, PA.  To confirm my career choice I took an opportunity to work for a private land surveyor,

The late Scott E. Tudor, PLS as his "Instrument Man" and helper over the summer.  This was a great experience.  We worked at all

kinds of places and work sites.  We did boundary surveys, construction survey "stake outs", and topographic and control surveys.

This solidified my decision as a new career choice and beginning in late August of 2006 I began my studies full time. 

Update 5/07:  I have completed my first academic year (GPA 4.0), one down, one more to go. 

I am currently employed as a summer intern for PennDOT's District 2-0 Surveys Division.

Update 10/07: After working through the summer with a PennDOT surveying crew I have started my second year at PCT,

and was recently elected President of the Pennsylvania Society of Land Surveyors - Penn College Student Chapter for the 2007/08

academic year.

Update 11/07: I was selected as "Student of the Month".

Update 5/08: On Tuesday, May 13th, I began my full time land surveying career working as a Survey Technician/Surveyor

in Training for Henry Surveys, LLC.    On Friday, May 16th, I was awarded the Ed Dobeck Memorial Award presented by the Susquehanna Chapter of the

Pennsylvania Society of Land Surveyors for a graduating Civil Engineering Technology, or Surveying Technology student

expressing an interest in a land surveying career.  The next day, at 2:00pm I graduated with highest honors (GPA 4.0) with an

Associate in Applied Science - Surveying Technology.

I'm registered to take the Fundamentals of Surveying exam in Hershey this coming October.

Community Involvement:

Currently I'm serving my seventh year as a planning commissioner for Patton Township, in Centre County. 

Recently a friend of mine asked me to spend an afternoon with his son's WEBELOS Cub Scout Pack to explain what land surveyors

do.  Our classroom was the front lawn of the PA 28th Div Memorial Shrine in Boalsburg.  I started off with a little speech about what

land surveyors do and measure, but soon we'd all had enough talk and needed to blow off some energy.  First, everyone got a chance

to "pace off", i.e. walk at a normal stride a known distance.  In this case it was 66ft (a common reference distance in the history of land

surveying, known as a "chain" or "Gunter's Chain".)   After the scouts walked the chain it was back to the picnic tables with

some paper, pencils, and a little long division so that the scouts could determine their natural pacing rate, i.e. how many feet is

in their typical stride.  Each scout now had built-in measuring tapes they could use in the future, or at least until their next growth

spurt.

For our next task I wanted them to measure off a distance with their new built-in measuring tapes.  My first semester

surveying professor, Dr. W. H. Sprinsky recommended that I have them measure off a some kind of ball field, something they could

relate to.  In Happy Valley during the fall the sport of choice is football, so our next task was to measure off a makeshift football field. 

First, the scouts were tasked with determining how many of their strides would be needed to measure the length of a football field,

i.e. 100 yards (300ft), so it was back to the picnic tables for some more long division.  With their target number determined

each scout walked off their football field distance and planted a small surveying flag.  Using a 300ft engineers tape I was able to show

the boys how close their pacing distances came to the taped distance.  Most of them were within 10-20ft!  Sure, there was one or

two scouts way short or way long, but that helped all the scouts see how important doing math correctly is and the effects of

math mistakes can have in the field.

Finally, every scout was given a chance to view their football field distance through the typical surveying instrument used today,

a Sokkia Total Station.  My friend Jim, held a Prism/Reflector rod at each scout's flag and each scout in turn got to sight through

the Total Station's 30x telescope.  With the simple push of a button the instrument displayed the slope distance to their flags. 

We all had a good day.  Afterwards the scouts put together a very nice thank you collage for me, which was most gratifying to

receive, thank you Pack 380 Den 5 Boalsburg!  A big thank you goes out to my first surveying mentor,  the late Scott E Tudor, PLS

for the use of his surveying equipment.

Besides serving my community as a township planning commissioner, commissioned PA Notary Public,  and my church, Grace Lutheran

Church as a Sunday School teacher and IT Administrator, my other hobbies and interests are acoustic guitar, amateur radio,

beekeeping.  Over the last ten years, I've also been into soaring (licensed private pilot- glider), homebrewing, and IPSC pistol

shooting.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story and in

the mean time, grace and peace be with you,

Rory