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Over the last decade, SCE has provided services for significant This year’s event was out of the ordinary. Schools have
projects such as the Court Street Gateway Improvement Design; been greatly affected by decisions made by officials wary
Route 201 Flyover; Memorial Bridge Rehabilitation; Binghamton of the virus pandemic resulting in the notion of students
University’s Downtown Academic Center Design; Wilson Hospital’s gathering together being generally forbidden. Many
Cyberknife Facility; Knapp Road Entrance Reconstruction at schools have enforced remote access restrictions resulting
the Broome County Landfill; Vestal Rail Trail Design; Deposit in participation being down from the usual number as
Front Street Reconstruction; Rome Cable Brownfield Clean-up several teams found working remotely too cumbersome.
in Rome, NY; Sullivan County Jail Design; University at Albany Devising a challenge for the student teams became a
Pedestrian and Traffic Plan; Susquehanna County (PA) Floodplain challenge in itself. The challenge, as originally imagined,
Administrator; design of multiple segments for converting Route was to have the student teams reproduce the survey by
17 to I-86; NYSDOT NY Route 434 Greenway; and improvements Eratosthenes of Cyrene back in ancient Greece about 240
at numerous airports throughout New York State. BC. He knew the sun shined down a well in Syene with
no shadow at noon on the Summer solstice. At the same
time in Alexandria, about 5,000 stadia (::::: 800 Km :::::
500 miles) to the north he observed the shadow of an
obelisk that made an angle of about 1/50 of a circle a little
more than 7°.
The challenge for the organizers became how to challenge
the teams without requiring them to gather in the field to
do the experiment. The final challenge was set to mimic
NSPS Announces 2021 Student Competition Champions responsibilities they will face in their professional careers.
They were tasked to write a proposal, including a budget,
(Frederick, Md.) – The National Society of Professional Surveyors as if to be submitted to a funding authority describing how
is pleased to announce the winners of the annual NSPS Student they would execute such a survey today with recourses
Competition. The final event, held April 29, 2021, utilized the on hand or acquired. The judging followed the same
Zoom online meeting app to recognize the finalists and champions, qualification-based-selection (QBS) format professional
as well as to host an enjoyable Jeopardy-styled game called “Quiz proposals must meet.
Bowl”, a newly initiated real-time challenge incorporated into the The judges, who were impressed by the quality of entries,
competition. Tony Cavell, chairman for the event, and Denver represented various professional experiences and widely-
Winchester, who was in charge of the Quiz Bowl, both expressed spaced geographic areas. NSPS President Mark Sargent
their pleasure with the teams’ performances in the competition. said, “The teams were impressive and acquitted themselves

The competition included two divisions, one for 4-year baccalaureate very well, and NSPS Education Chairman Stephen Gould
degree programs and the other for 2-year associate degree programs. agreed saying, “Given the enthusiasm of the teams, we
The University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez Campus, with Yesenia look forward to another fine Student Competition in
Marie Riveria-Lopez as Captain, took the championship in the 4-yr 2022!”
contest. East Los Angeles College Team #1, with Adriana Hernandez Final list of teams who participate d: University of Puerto
as Captain, were champions of the 2-yr challenge. The Quiz Bowl Rico – Mayaguez Campus, Nicholls State University,
was won by the team from the University of Puerto Rico who played Alfred State College, Hawkeye Community College and
a savvy strategy to overcome a possible advantage of language and 3 teams from East Los Angeles College.
geography held by teams located within the U.S.A. proper.
NSPS would like to thank Trimble and SAM for their
The annual NSPS Student Competition traditionally involves teams generous donations to make the competition a success.
representing their schools performing fieldwork and data analysis. A special thanks to H. A. Kuehlem Survey Company for
The work is compared and the team showing the best result, or the sponsoring the First Competition Quiz Bowl.
fastest time in some cases, is declared Champion.

EMPIRE STATE SURVEYOR / VOL. 57 • NO 4/ 2021 • JULY/AUGUST 17