We can’t grow if we aren’t willing to learn, change and challenge ourselves. I’ve spent over half my career in another profession, as a teacher, but through moves and changes in the industry, I had to step away and challenge myself by learning something new. Sometimes we have no other choice but to push ourselves outside of our comfort zone in the name of growth.
Hard Work and Dedication
After seven years in education, being selected as my district’s Kansas Horizon Award nominee, earning Teacher of the Year honors in my first eligible year, achieving National Board Certification, obtaining two teaching degrees, and navigating moves between two states, I thought I had a pretty clear picture of my career path. Once I moved to Texas, I began to feel my passion for teaching slipping away. With the challenges facing the education system and little indication that they would improve anytime soon, I wasn't sure how much longer I wanted to remain in the profession.
I decided to put myself and my skills out there and look for different opportunities. And the world stood to prove just how small it really is when, coincidentally, my sister’s brother-in-law, so happened to have recently discussed with Jackie Overton, EHRA Engineering’s current Assistant Director of Platting Services, the immediate need to expand the platting team. Once hearing about the opportunity I ambitiously filled out the application, submitted my resume and hoped for the best. I received the call for an interview, met with the team and that was the end of one chapter and the opening page to the next.
Jumping into the platting world and the civil engineering industry headfirst was no small task. I was starting from scratch in what felt like learning a completely new language. I found success through learning as I go and utilizing my years of teaching to become my own student to learn and grow. I have developed platting checklists and guidance documents to streamline the final plat process and improve consistency across our team. I also created jurisdictional timeline resources that have been shared with other service areas to help them better understand how the platting process aligns with and impacts their project schedules. Additionally, I developed the, "What Is Platting?" presentation as a part of the Slice of Knowledge series. The presentation has since been shared with interns and new hires as a training resource and includes examples of key documents frequently used throughout the platting process, such as tax certificates and mylars, to provide a practical understanding of the work we do.
My drive comes from being fully invested in the work I do, which is what enabled me to adapt quickly and grow within the platting profession. I am incredibly proud of our team’s accomplishments and motivated by the opportunities ahead. What began as a two-person team consisting of Jackie and me has grown into a team of six and an established standalone service area. The dedication and collaboration that made that growth possible are what make me most proud of the work we continue to do every day.
Last year we broke our previous year’s record for recorded plats per year and we’re looking to keep that up every year moving forward. We will keep looking for more records to break and for more goals to achieve all as one team.
More Than the Work
Throughout my time here at EHRA, I have not only learned the ins and outs of Platting, but I have also gotten the opportunity to learn about the industry as a whole, our many different services and all the moving parts this company has to offer. I have built meaningful relationships with team members across many different service areas and titles. Through these relationships I have been able to better help those I’m working with and in turn they have notably helped me. The team atmosphere here is like no other, and I’m happy to be just one part of the team.
Although I love teaching and I miss the kids and the classroom, ultimately, moving on was the best decision for me. Now I take my experience gained in the classroom and shape it into different forms to better establish efficiency and accuracy as we work through platting rules, regulations, tight timelines and continued challenges. While my journey in getting here was not like most, I am certain that this is the place I am meant to be.