Driving past a construction site on a busy stretch of Highway 401 in Toronto you might not understand all the work that goes into keeping our highways safe and in good repair. But Terrence Choo-Kang certainly does. Terry, a 1977 graduate of the Civil Engineering Technology program, is a senior contract administrator with Morrison Hershfield–a consulting engineering firm that offers civil engineering, building engineering, and communications services. As a contract administrator, Terry's job is to ensure that contractors meet his client's design and materials specifications. In practice, this means being on-site to measure, monitor, inspect, and ensure that proper testing takes place. For Terry, modern construction "all comes back down to the basics." During his years at Seneca, Terry learned all the "basic skills to get into this kind of work" and upon graduation "was able to apply directly what I was taught."

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An education at Seneca College opens up a world of employment possibilities. The Civil Engineering Technology program prepared Romeo D'Angelo for a successful career as the owner-operator of his own company. After graduating in 1991 Romeo and three partners founded Jessco, a company that specializes in forming structural concrete. After the initial hurdles faced by every new business, Jessco has prospered and today boasts a staff of 35 carpenters and labourers who are working on three to five jobs at any given time, including the construction of a new 16-theatre Famous Players complex in Brampton, Ontario. Romeo gathered useful skills while at Seneca – the ability to read construction drawings, surveying techniques, and hands-on experience using engineering tools. But Romeo is most grateful for the solid mathematics foundation he received in the Civil Engineering Technology program. "This business demands a lot of math and the Civil Engineering Technology program prepared me for these on-site calculations."

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The creation of our built environment involves many lengthy and labour-intensive stages before construction ever begins. Designs have to be created, plans have to be drawn up and approved, and potential building sites need to be inspected. Ismail Farah and Michael Williams – 1998 graduates of the Civil and Resources Engineering Technology programs respectively – work for a firm of consulting engineers as earthwork, asphalt, and geo-technical inspectors. Ismail and Michael test the compaction of different surfaces to determine if soil is dense enough to be built on or road surfaces are dense enough to handle predicted traffic flows. In practice this work can mean excavating topsoil to expose earthwork or digging 10-foot deep boreholes. While entry-level work isn't easy, Ismail knows why he chose the Civil Engineering Technology program: "Seneca has a good name and a good reputation." To which Michael is quick to add, "We're all glad we went to Seneca."

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Reneé Jarrett knows all about recycling. After a career that has spanned the field of resources engineering, she is working to return that knowledge to the community as the Manager of Conservation Education with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. Reneé graduated from Seneca College in 1979 from what was then known as the Resources Engineering Techniques program, which was a blend of civil engineering, water resources engineering, and resource management. Since that time, Reneé has enjoyed a varied career that demonstrates the range of possibilities the Civil Engineering Technology program offers–working in soil testing, water resources engineering, storm water management, and with the Conservation Authority managing flood plains. Currently, Reneé manages a program that educates children and adults on subjects such as the environment, ecosystems, conservation, and pond studies. In her position, "it helps having the technical background," and as Reneé observes, "variety is the strength of the Civil Engineering Technology program. All disciplines have to become better environmental practioners."

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There's much to learn in the classroom, but for experience nothing beats getting out there in the real world and getting your hands dirty. No one knows this better than Seneca student Annie Kwok, who entered the Seneca Co-op program because she wanted to integrate practical experience with her classroom studies. Annie spent a work term (from April to September) with Bennett Young, a land surveying firm. She applied all that she learned in her surveying classes and got valuable experience using the industry's leading-edge tools, such as total stations and global position systems. "Class is very practical, but through work there's a lot more I've learned–how the business works, terminology." Annie will graduate in 2001. In the meantime, she will return to Seneca (she has already been asked to rejoin Bennett Young next summer) with the knowledge that, "it's important for students to actually do field work outside of the classroom, where there's a real time limit."

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Emily McMillan is right when she observes, "I'm unique within the company. They don't usually hire people straight out of college." The company is RPA Consultants, who manage facilities construction projects for their clients. After spending three summers at RPA, Emily was hired in 1999 after she graduated from the Civil Engineering Technology program. As a Project Coordinator, Emily is responsible for contract administration, document control, scheduling, and on-site administration. Without the on-site experience that many of the construction professionals she deals with have, Emily relies on the Seneca curriculum that was "related directly to what I do"–specifically construction methods and management, scheduling, and estimating. Working at RPA, Emily gets involved in many high-profile and exciting projects. Currently, she is working on the installation of race track gaming facilities for the Ontario Lottery Corporation. "What I like best about this job is that every project has an end ... then you get to change. Next year we'll be building something else."

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Kyle Moate supervises a staff of five who monitor the water and wastewater systems that provide drinking water and treat wastewater for a population of 360,000 in Niagara Region. While Kyle works with leading-edge technologies, including GIS systems, closed–circuit televisions, flow monitor sensors, and global positioning systems, it is the core courses-such as math, surveying, and hydraulics – that Kyle believes are the strength of Seneca's Civil Engineering Technology program. "You can't sit in front of a computer to model a sewer without understanding how a sewer works," he notes. "Without those core courses, I would never have gotten this job." Kyle goes on to stress that there is a continuing need for qualified graduates. As the water and wastewater systems that Kyle monitors continue to age, there will be a demand for civil engineering technologists who can perform the necessary rehabilitation work. "Something will have to be done to bring infrastructure up to speed. We'll need people in this field."

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Deciding to change careers, Mary Prawecki returned to school. She chose Seneca because she "wanted a hands-on program that dealt with math, the environment, and working with instruments." When she graduated in 1992, Mary immediately joined York Region as an Environmental Technician. As a member of the Water and Wastewater Branch, she keeps databases on water quality, rainfall, and water production in York's well-based systems, prepares data for the corporate Geographic Information Systems, and has been involved in the preparation of York Region's State of the Environment Report. Mary loves the variety her job offers and says that the Civil Engineering Technology program "really prepared me for it. I use almost everything I was taught in school ... All that math, I actually use it."

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Every day, Jennifer Preston is confronted with the new technologies that are changing the built environment. Jennifer is a CAD designer for the Markham, Ontario firm of Cosburn Patterson Mather Limited. She compiles topographic data, utilities information, and storm, sanitary, and sewage pipe layouts–using the latest software–to create drawings of new subdivisions and commercial developments. And Jennifer got a head start with these technologies in Seneca's Civil Engineering Technology program. Her course in AutoCAD (the designer's basic software tool) taught her "the basics I didn't learn anywhere else," while the Municipal Services subject allowed her to design a subdivision for her final project "and that's exactly what I'm doing now." After graduating with a four-year university degree and working for a year, Jennifer was unable to find a job in her field. She came to Seneca looking for practical, hands-on learning from an experienced faculty. She wasn't disappointed: "If I had known that the Civil Engineering Technology program existed, I would have taken it instead of going to university."

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A 1993 Seneca graduate, Glenn Robillard went directly from the Civil Engineering Technology program to his job at Lafarge as a result of a contact he made during his work term in the Co-op program. The Co-op program allowed Glenn "to meet people in the industry and find out what I wanted to do." Now he is a roving quality assurance troubleshooter for Lafarge quarries and operations in central Ontario, which provide 8 1/2 to 10 million tonnes of aggregate to the GTA and surrounding areas each year. The Civil Engineering program provided Glenn with a basic understanding of the needs of the construction industry–the customers he must satisfy. As Glenn notes, Seneca was his "stepping stone into industry."

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Ted Tipping is quick to recognize the role the Civil Engineering Technology program played in his career: "I wouldn't have got my first job if it hadn't been for Seneca." Ted graduated from the program in 1981 and joined the City of Toronto as a building inspector the same year. Now, 18 years later, he is one of the senior building officials in the megacity. Supervising four managers and a total staff of 70, Ted's department reviews and approves building plans and inspects the progress of construction projects – including the six building Sprint/Callnet call centre – in the former City of North York. At Seneca Ted learned the basics of construction theory that he would need as a building inspector and he is still a vocal booster of the benefits of the Civil Engineering Technology program: "for anyone looking for hands-on experience it's great. People we hire come out of Seneca well-versed and qualified."

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