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Local Surveyors Show JMHS Students Ins And Outs Of The Job

photo by: Photo by Derek Redd

Mike Austen of Austen Surveying, and also the Ohio County Surveyor, shows John Marshall High School senior Cody O'Donnell the Triumph-LS Plus land survey machine Wednesday morning at the school.

GLEN DALE – The occupation of land surveyor has been around in the United States since the Founding Fathers. A group of local surveyors spent Wednesday at John Marshall High School showing students there different facets of the job, in hopes of spurring a few of them to one day join their ranks.

Many who hold the job of land surveyor are reaching retirement age, said Marshall County Surveyor Jim Ruckman, who also works for Cerrone and Associates. The average age of licensed professional surveyors is approaching 60 years old, he said.

“We’re just trying to promote the profession,” Ruckman said.

Various classes congregated in front of JMHS on Wednesday to see demonstrations from several local county surveyors. They learned not just the history of profession, but also the present and the future.

That present and future includes levels of technology that many of the surveyors demonstrating the machines didn’t have when they started their careers. The professionals showed the students old-school tools like surveying chains that were put to use years ago. They also demonstrated the newest tools of the trade, including global navigation satellite system receivers and drones that can measure thousands of yards at a time, compared the the couple hundred feet a chain can measure.

Realizing the advanced level of technology in the surveying field could be the carrot that entics a high school student to look at the job, Ruckman said.

“These young kids are so tech-savvy,” Ruckman said. “They’ll find it much easier to use this stuff. Technology has tremendously helped our field of endeavor. It’s made our work much easier.”

Students in West Virginia can study surveying without leaving the state’s borders. Ruckman said Fairmont State, Glenville State and Bluefield State universities all have surveying curriculum. JMHS senior Cody O’Donnell said that what he saw Wednesday opened his eyes to the occupation.

“I think this is pretty neat,” O’Donnell said. “I like to be outside, and that really helps, since a lot of this is outside. I just like working with land, and I think this is all really neat.”

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