Girl Fest, a Girl Scout celebration sponsored by the Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington, took place on Saturday, November 15. With over 100 booths, the attendees had the opportunity to learn about everything from the American Red Cross to the Oregon Zoo with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and The Arts activities making up a good portion of the day.

Carla Meritt (Director of Survey and adjunct Instructor at Clark College), volunteered her time and survey expertise, introducing girls of all ages to the art and science of land surveying.  At the Clark College Surveying and N.E.R.D. (Not Even Remotely Dorky) Girls Booth, Carla demonstrated the use of a reflectorless total station surveying instrument and showed the girls how it is used to measure angles, distances, and heights.   Carla and Erielle Lamb, of the US Forest Service and also an adjunct instructor, set the scene by determining the measurements of some identifiable features in the exhibitor hall. The visitors to the booth were provided an opportunity to estimate how far away they thought the object was as well as its height above the surface of the room and the angle between it and another object. At the end of the day, they tallied up the 200+ guesses and awarded prizes ($25 Amazon gift cards supplied by MSi) to the top four winners. 

This activity exposed young ladies (and their parents) to the profession of land surveying and promoted the two-year degree program in land surveying that is offered at Clark College.

Photos:  Stephanie Vargo's daughter, Olivia, learning to operate a Total Station.