Hands-on learning experiences are the best way to provide students with a realistic look into a career in construction. Our Payne + Dolan engineering team recently participated in a two-day event at Wauwatosa East High School that taught the students all that is involved with surveying for a new parking lot. It was an excellent way to introduce surveying to students, create excitement, and leave them desiring to learn more.
This partnership with Wauwatosa East and West High Schools and Elmbrook Schools has been rewarding for both the students and our Walbec Team. We welcome these opportunities to share our passion for this industry to inspire the next generation to join us after graduation.
The team began by dividing the class of 30 students into three groups, assigning them different precision requirements for their individual measurements. Before the hands-on activity, the students measured and estimated the dimensions of a project Payne + Dolan recently completed located on the southeast corner of the campus.
They used the Milwaukee County GIS website (2022 Preliminary Aerial imagery) to complete this task. The students enjoyed working together to measure and verify the lengths and then compute the areas, volumes, and quantities required for curbs, sidewalks, and pavement for the new parking area.
The measuring precision differed for each group of students, with some measuring in feet/inches and others using feet and yards. This allowed for results to be compared and demonstrated how precision changes the quantities and affects the time it takes to complete measurements.
Getting to see the hands-on learning opportunities that Wauwatosa East High School is providing for its students is fantastic. The activity exposed the students to take-offs from aerial imagery and traditional field measuring, an everyday task performed by Walbec Group team members on infrastructure sector projects.
