Detroit, MI (May 20, 2008) - - Spalding DeDecker Associates, Inc. (SDA), a regional civil engineering and surveying firm, hosts a K-12 Engineering and Surveying Fair. 

On Tuesday, May 20 2008, a group of volunteers from Spalding DeDecker Associates, Inc. worked together to host a K-12 Engineering and Surveying Fair at their Rochester Hills office.  The purpose of this event was to build awareness and to promote the civil engineering and surveying fields.  There is a huge shortage of students pursuing these fields, and if children are exposed to these careers, they are more likely to investigate these technical professions. 
 
Interactive, hands-on activities included:
• Weights and Measures contest
• Electrical Circuits
• SimCity
• Motion - Momentum and Impulse
• Quick-Fixes for Traffic Crashes
• Designing for “Greener” Stormwater
• Building Tall
• Surveying - Instruments, Pacing Contest, and Guess the Angle contest
• Bridge Building
• Egg Drop
• Build a Barge
• Catapult
• Geology
• Material Testing

“My son Alexander was so impressed working with the two of you (Mike and John DeDecker) in the survey area that he couldn’t stop talking about it all evening.  He really enjoyed walking through the various scenarios with John on different methods and concepts in surveying.  He was absolutely taken in by the theory and concepts applied in survey and he was very complimentary on the way that John presented the information. The impression that the two of you made was so great, that Alex actually sent me a text message this morning wondering if he could possibly co-op with the survey department sometime in the future, to get a better feel for this type of work. I think that this level of interest was exactly what SDA had envisioned with regards to the Engineering Fair,” said Andrew Keller, SCADA Specialist with Spalding DeDecker.

Led by Cheryl Gregory and Tom Dohr, the SDA volunteers were Mark Balon, Nadette Bullington, Lori Chevalier, Cathy DeDecker, John DeDecker, Mike DeDecker, Richard Dee, John Dell’Isola, Jake Ensley, Leonard Harwell, Beth Kilbourne, Eric Kipp, Sarah Lambdin, Bill Lambdin, Brian McKissen, Joe Muller, Erika Muller, Jake Munchiando, Jennifer Petz, Dave Potter, Crystal Sapp, Maria Sedki, Yazi Shamina, Alex Shteynvil, Dana Suggitt, Jason Toner, Paul Tulikangas, Paul Wade, and Scott Wanagat.  Grant DeWitt with PM Environmental, Inc. hosted a geology station.  JoHanna Banicki and Penny Dwoinen with Testing Engineers & Consultants, Inc. hosted a material testing station.

“As Employee/Owners of SDA, we expect everyone at SDA to be engaged in our professions.  We’re seeing a decline in the number of engineers and surveyors graduating from colleges all over the U.S., so we think it’s important to show our young people what we do and how important it is for our future generations.  This Engineering and Surveying Fair serves a dual purpose of engaging our staff while exposing young people to our professions and hopefully steering them in this direction,” said David A. Lakin, PE, President of SDA.

About Spalding DeDecker Associates
Established in 1954, Spalding DeDecker Associates, Inc. is an engineering consulting firm specializing in infrastructure, land development, and surveying.  With offices in Brighton, Detroit, Rochester Hills, and Trenton, Michigan, SDA is an employee-owned and ISO certified organization that provides design and engineering solutions for municipal, land development, transportation, and water/wastewater projects.  The firm also offers complete construction engineering and land surveying & mapping services.