Page 5 - 2022- 49.4

The I would also like to share my experience from a couple of weeks ago
when NALS had the opportunity to exhibit at the National Association
for Career & Technical Education conference here in Las Vegas. As
Editor’s part of this conference, there were teachers and counselors from
the National Association of Agricultural Educators. Nancy Almanzan,
Corner Frank Wittie, and I all had great conversations with many of the
5,000+ teachers and counselors in attendance. As part of the NALS
Outreach Committee, we made it one of our goals for 2023 to
become more involved with Future Farmers of America this coming
By: Trent J. Keenan, PLS year, and we picked a great year to push that effort. This year’s
competitive event is based around surveying (I am still waiting to
receive the entire packet), but based on the conversations I had with
3 Annual Education Edition! a few Nevada Agriculture teachers I spoke with, they are all looking
rd
With 2022 coming to a close, it is time to provide updated data for help. Does any of your kids or grandkids participate in FFA? Do you
based on my article published in The Nevada Traverse 47.4. I will have a connection with FFA? I am pending a meeting with the state
continue to make this an annual edition of delivering the most current director of FFA to find out how our NALS members can help present/
data provided by the Nevada Board of Professional Engineers and talk to the kids about land surveying and help answer questions that
Land Surveyors and Great Basin College (please see the Table for might help them with the upcoming event. The FFA State Convention
the current data). I am happy to report that the data from 2021 to will be in Reno on March 15-18, 2023, and NALS will undoubtedly be
2022 was not as severe as from 2020-2021. We gained a few Non- there to help in any way we can.
Resident Land Surveyors and only lost one Resident Land Surveyor.
Great News to report!

Fall of 2022 Great Basin College student enrollment. I have some more good news to share! The Nevada Traverse is
back to its winning ways! Special congratulations to Frank Wittie on
Overall Enrollment 2022 - Active 91 receiving the NSPS Journalism Award for Best Editorial for an article
published in The Nevada Traverse Edition 49.1 – Hiring in 2021. It has
We have 91 total active students for Fall 2022. been a couple of years since the Traverse won an award, so it is great
30 - NV to see Frank win for Nevada!
61 - Non-residents
41 AS degree seeking w/13 being NV residents Now let’s look at what else is in store for this edition.
50 BAS degree seeking w/17 being NV residents We have an excellently written article by John Wilusz. John attended
We currently have about 112 resident land surveyors over 61, and the XXVII FIG Congress in Warsaw, Poland, and gave us thoughts on
we could lose at least 50% or more over the next ten years. Meaning the whole experience.
about 56 of you will be retiring for good, and with approximately 30 Another article is an abstract of a podcast conversation about Survey
Nevada students pursuing a degree in Land Surveying, we are still Education and Training Options currently within our profession. The
in a shortfall. As you can see from all of this data, we will not be able podcast had a great cross-section of professionals from around the
to fill the gap of new licensees coming up through the education globe. Please send me your thoughts!
system and replacing the retiring licensees. So again, this goes back
to getting more of the younger generation involved. If you are in a I also wrote another article based on the multiple panel discussions
position to hire staff, please stop looking for the most experienced focused on moving the profession forward at the 2022 Western
land surveyor available; hire the young person instead, train them Regional Survey Conference. This conversation centered on whether
from the beginning and provide them with an opportunity to have a the advanced education requirement is a help or a hindrance to the
great career within our profession. This is one of the most significant profession.
ways to help build the profession’s labor force back up. Lastly, two additional articles from Knud E. Hermansen, P.L.S., P.E.,
The good news is that we are still making an impact in Nevada. Ph.D., Esq. These two articles are the next in a long series based on
Between the success of Professor Byron Calkins/GBC and the College the Thoughts On Professional Practice and Education. The first article
of Southern Nevada (CSN) approvals to continue moving forward with in this series from first published in The Nevada Traverse 48.4.
the creation of the Bachelor of Science in Land Surveying. Nevada is Please send in your comments or articles so that what we print
dedicated to growing the profession! is what you want to read! Articles for the next edition are due on
February 1 please.
st,
The Nevada Traverse Vol.49, No.4, 2022 3