Volunteering

Last Friday I spoke at Career Day for the Culver Middle School.  This was a presentation to the seventh grade class.  The class was broken into 4 groups and they made the rounds between several of us who had volunteered to speak.  Last year I had to compete with Angela Ridenhour’s presentation on Photography.  Apparently she was the favorite.  This year one of my fellow presenters was a police officer from the K-9 unit with a police dog.  What did W.C. Field’s say?  “Never work with animals or children.” I’m guessing I was upstaged.  <sigh>

In any case, I did a presentation on Landscape Architecture since it is National Landscape Architecture Month and I hold a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from Purdue University.  I made it somewhat a duel discussion on construction as well since I was introduced as working for Easterday Construction Co., Inc.  I was able to draw on my experience from last year, so not much preparation was required.  I learned last year that having at least a loose outline was important as by the third or fourth time it becomes difficult to remember what I had said to the current group vs. the preceding groups.

I discussed the profession, the degree requirement, licensing requirements and a general range of what the degree qualifies you to do.  I also took them through an impromptu white board sketch of  the considerations in developing a lot.  I discussed  solar heat gain, wind rows and topography considerations as well as the relationships with other homes on adjacent lots.  I was also able to discuss the various things happening in Culver with the recently annexed land on the south side of Town and how I have participated in helping revise the Zoning Ordinance and help with guiding decisions on how the land may be used in the future.

It was an interesting experience.  The first group was not particularly vocal, but the remaining groups had a mix of interesting and off-the-wall questions.  Each group had a different area of interest which actually made it kind of fun.  There’s no way I want to become a teacher, but it was somewhat gratifying to think I made a positive impression.

Apparently I actually did.  An employee told me that he had a daughter in the class who came home talking about what I had said and actually discussed some of the points that I made.  That was fairly impressive.  Maybe the dog didn’t take top honors this year?

Anyway, this was a good way to give back to the community.  As seventh graders they have a lot of time before they have to decide what they will do with their lives.    Hopefully I influenced a few kids and gave them some career options that they hadn’t previously considered.  If I did, it was worth a couple of hours on a Friday afternoon.  Maybe next year (if asked to participate) I will bring along my dog!