Chris Oyler of Surveyors On Site and Maureen Mountjoy of the AOLS presented at the Greater Essex County District School Board Construction Specialist High Skills Major educational event on May 27. Chris and Maureen worked with teacher Krysta Brosseau to facilitate the session with fourteen grade 10 and 11 students and three teachers.

Chris scanned a portion of Comerica Park in Detroit and downloaded the file onto memory sticks for a 3-D modelling assignment. The assignment included a scavenger hunt using the graphics file for measuring various elements of the scan. Ms Brosseau assembled and distributed a kit for the students that included a measuring tape, AOLS brochures, AOLS pencils, magnetic field compasses and a wrist band memory stick with the point cloud file. With the memory stick, students could access the file on their own time and work through the assignment. In addition, students were briefed on the history of surveying and career options, and there was an outdoor pacing exercise where students had to determine the distance of the hypotenuse of a right-angle triangle on the ground at their house using a video by Chris and his children that demonstrated the exercise.

Plans of the Geomatics Recruitment and Liaison Committee are to expand the presentation to create an online presentation package and facilitate an annual event where several schools that have the Construction SHSM program could attend and where students could obtain an AOLS student certificate. Expansion plans are underway because other schools have expressed interest in hosting a similar event. A short video will be created to help AOLS members and teachers prepare for the presentation. Although teachers must participate, the program is more effective when an Ontario Land Surveyor leads the session.