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But that convenience is not as helpful now that most young people have no clue what a surveyor does.

Kent Groh recalled visiting a school to conduct a recent presentation. He asked the roomful of 600 kids if they knew what a land
surveyor did. Only one girl raised her hand.
Talk up surveying every chance you get

Farrah landed in the surveying profession thanks to her father, a
surveyor with a firm of his own. If she had not had her dad to look up
to, Farrah doubts that she would have been aware of surveying as a
career path. That is why she thinks one key is for current surveyors to
speak up about what they do to friends, acquaintances, and youths.

“If you don’t have a parent or somebody really close to you who’s good
at what they do in surveying and who likes it, you just won’t find out
about it,” Farrah said.
Most surveyors have limited time on their hands, so the first key
becomes making time.
“There has to be enough people that have been doing it long enough
that are willing even to go in and talk to the kids about it. And we
are even having a hard time finding seasoned professionals that are
willing to go and take the time to try and talk to young people. So, it’s a
struggle for sure,” said Farrah.

Focus on the fun!

When getting in front of a younger audience, Farrah, Zach, and Adam agreed that the important thing was to make it as engaging as
possible.

This applies whether you are talking to young children, such as a Boy Scout or Girl Scout troop, or older kids such as high school
students ready to think about their careers.

“I think it definitely takes a special type of person. So, for myself, I love puzzles. And I feel very fulfilled with physical labor,” Zach said.
“So, I think you need a special type of student or a younger person that enjoys going on adventures every day. If you look at it at least
from the boundary side, you look at it as treasure hunting in a way. And when you are going out and finding some really cool stuff, like
rebars that were set by some guy back in the eighties,” said Zach.

In order to instill excitement and interest in surveying, you need people who are excited by surveying to talk about it. That way, the
passion will come through, and you can pass on exactly how exciting and fulfilling surveying can be.
Adam agreed that he wishes he heard about surveying sooner - if he had, he would have looked into it much earlier in life.

“I think reaching younger people through high schools, you know, I think that’s a perfect age to go and recruit in that way. Because if that
would have been presented to me, I would have definitely taken an opportunity to join a surveying firm,” said Adam.
Suppose you cannot physically get into classrooms to make a presentation. In that case, the answer might lie in something like social
media - because right now, surveying isn’t much more visible online than it is offline.
“I did a lot of research before I went in surveying. There is not a lot of articles or
even social media coverage, you know, surveying. You know, if you compare it
to civil engineering, it’s quite the opposite,” Adam said.

Farrah drove home the point that creativity is critical.

“It’s pretty tough to come up with creative and unique and effective ways
to reach people with something that you really can’t express in a classroom
setting. The exciting parts of it, you know, 11, 12, 13-year-olds through high
school, they don’t want to sit and listen to somebody tell them how much
math they’re going to need to learn, or how many years of college they have to
go through,” she said.

Instead, it is all about making things exciting and planting a seed that can grow with time.
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The Nevada Traverse Vol.48, No.2, 2021 19