Tuesday, January 25, 2011

OC Land Surveyors Present Trig Star 2011

Mark your calendar! 
Trig Star is coming to Santiago Canyon College in the foothills of Orange.

When: Saturday March 12
Where: 8045 E. Chapman Ave., Orange, CA 92869
Stay tuned for the event flyer and details.In the mean time, download sample competition exams here.

Here is a little history behind this national trigonometry competition.

Russell E. Kastelle, RLS and member of the North Dakota Society of Professional Land Surveyors created the “Trig-Star” program. Russell was the ACSM Delegate / National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) Governor from North Dakota, and in 1983 Russell was looking for something to accomplish during his tenure. The idea for Trig-Star came from the success of Engineer’s Week. Russell thought there must be something Surveyors could do to promote the profession, so he wrote a proposal for the “Trig-Star” program and presented it to the NSPS Board of Governors in Salt Lake City Utah in the fall of 1983. The idea was embraced, and by the fall of 1984 Trig-Star contest packets were being sent to Land Surveyors across the United States. The contest is still run in much the same way as Russell proposed, and Russell still sponsors the contest at the local level every year.

Although Russell’s vision was that the contest would be a local event, matching surveyor with high school, the program has evolved into a National Contest with scholarship awards. The initiative for the National Contest began with a Trig-Star sponsor from the North Central Florida Chapter of the Florida Society of Professional Surveyors, Kent Green, who had been successful in promoting the program at the Chapter Level. In 1993 Kent proposed that NSPS sponsor the program as a national contest. Kent was assisted by Richard Lomax, then NSPS President, and NSPS began a National Contest. The process of determining the National Trig-Star winner began. NSPS formed a Trig-Star Committee, and Larry Doss from Tennessee became the first chair of the Committee. Larry crafted guidelines and implemented the national contest format. He secured scholarship awards from NSPS, and money to bring the contest winner and their teacher to the ACSM Annual Convention.

I was active on the Trig-Star Committee for two years and took over as Committee Chair at the ACSM Annual meeting in 1998. My first task was to standardize and improve the quality of the contest materials. With the help of Don Murphy of Cedar Rapids Iowa the test has improved every year. The format is one that allows teachers to teach for the test, allows students of varying abilities to score, but also allows the best and brightest to be identified. With the help of the dedicated volunteers on the Trig-Star Committee and input from State Societies like the Wisconsin Society of Land Surveyors we have developed complete and easy to follow instructions to insure the success of each local contest.

The Trig-Star Committee has also created the NSPS Foundation Trig-Star Scholarship Endowment Fund (a 501 c (3) entity) in 2000. The purpose of the Scholarship Fund is to provide financial assistance to high school graduates who demonstrate excellence in the field of trigonometry and to enhance and expand the Trig-Star program. The 501 c (3) status means that all donations are fully tax deductible (see form in the magazine to add your contribution). Scholarship fund distribution is limited to high school graduates who became the Trig-Star of their respective high school, became the State Trig-Star winner, and placed First, Second, or Third in the National Trig-Star competition.

The Trig-Star program operates on a budget of $12,000 per year, of which $7,000 a year is given out as awards. The program depends on the hard work of many volunteers at the national, state, and local level.

John Chagnon, Trig-Star Chairman

The Orange County Chapter of the California Land Surveyors Association together with the Orange County land surveying profession spend thousands of dollars each year to expose the rich history of professional land surveying to middle school and high school students.

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Greg Sebourn

The Beauty of a Storm

The Beauty of a Storm
Orange County, Ca.

My Grandma - A Eulogy

LET'S TALK ABOUT 1914 FOR A MOMENT.



FOR STARTERS, GRANDMA WAS BORN TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1914 IN HER FAMILY'S ATWOOD RANCH HOUSE.



IT IS WORTH NOTING THOSE ALSO BORN IN 1914:

JACK LALANNE

JOE DIMAGGIO

DANNY THOMAS



AND WHO DIED IN 1914:

JOHN MUIR, THE FAMOUS NATURALIST FOR WHICH NUMEROUS ROADS, PARKS, HOTELS, AND NATURE RESERVES ARE NAMED.



IT IS ALSO WORTH NOTING THAT IN 1914 WOODROW WILSON SIGNS MOTHER'S DAY PROCLAMATION AND BABE RUTH MAKES HIS MAJOR LEAGUE DEBUT WITH THE RED SOX. MOTHER'S DAY AND BASEBALL- TWO OF MY FAVORITES!! (PERHAPS HER NICKNAME "BABE" CAME FROM BABE RUTH???)



GRANDMA WAS BORN INTO A PERIOD OF TIME FILLED WITH TURMOIL. IN JUNE OF 1914 ARCHDUKE FRANZS FERDINAND WAS ASSASSINATED. WITHIN ONE MONTH WORLD WAR I RAGED ACROSS EUROPE. TWO DAYS AFTER HER BIRTH HOWEVER, GERMAN AND BRITISH TROOPS INTERRUPTED WWI TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS. (PERHAPS THEY PAUSE KNOWING THAT A GREAT WOMAN WAS BORNE) WORLD WAR I CONTINUED UNTIL THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES IN 1919.



ALTHOUGH SHE WAS ONLY 5 YEARS OLD, SHE SAW THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS CREATED AND THE 19TH AMENDMENT WAS APPROVED BY THE U.S. CONGRESS GUARANTEEING THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN TO VOTE.



SHE LIVED THROUGH MANY NOTABLE EVENTS. LIKE THE 1933 LONG BEACH EARTHQUAKE OR WHEN ATWOOD FLOODED ALONG WITH MOST OF ORANGE COUNTY IN 1938 AND THE FLOOD-WATERS CLAIMED MORE THAN 50 PEOPLE, 43 OF WHICH WERE FROM ATWOOD! ALL OF THIS DURING A TIME THAT WE READ ABOUT IN SCHOOL AND KNOWN AS "THE GREAT DEPRESSION". SOMEWHERE IN ALL OF THAT SHE FOUND THE LOVE OF HER LIFE, GRANDPA LEO, GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL, GOT MARRIED, AND HAD KIDS!



THEN THERE WAS WORLD WAR II. FROM PEARL HARBOR TO HIROSHIMA, GRANDMA WAS RAISING MY UNCLE BOB AND MOM ARLINE. WITH AIR-RAID SIRENS AND BLACKOUTS SHE WAS A WIFE AND MOTHER. WHAT A TIME TO RAISE CHILDREN! I BET GRANDMA'S PARENTS WERE ABEL TO TELL HER A THING OR TWO ABOUT RAISING KIDS IN WARTIME.



GRANDMA WAS THERE WHEN THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA HELD THEIR 3RD ANNUAL NATIONAL JAMBOREE IN 1953. SHE SAW AIRBASES OPEN IN '42 AND CLOSE IN '99. SHE WATCHED WALTER KNOTT START UP HIS BERRY FARM AND WALT DISNEY TURN ORANGE GROVES AND STRAWBERRY PATCHES INTO DISNEYLAND!



SHE SAW THE HORSE AND CARRIAGE FADE AWAY INTO HISTORY AND SPACE TRAVEL EXPLODE BEFORE HER WITH THE FIRST LUNAR LANDING. JUST IMAGINE HOW MUCH TECHNOLOGY HAS CHANGED OVER THE LAST 100 YEARS. FROM TUBE RECTIFIERS TO SUPERCONDUCTORS; FROM TRANS-ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH CABLES TO SATELLITE TV.



SHE SAW MORE IN HER 93 YEARS THAN MOST OF US WILL EVER READ ABOUT, LET ALONE LIVE THROUGH!



OF THOSE 93 YEARS IT IS MY HONOR TO HAVE BEEN HER GRANDSON FOR 35 OF THEM. SHE WAS MY MOTHER WHEN MOM HAD TO WORK. SHE WIPED MY NOSE AND PUT FOOD IN MY MOUTH. SHE LET ME PLAY WITH GRANDPA EVEN THOUGH SHE NEEDED HIM TO TAKE HER TO THE STORE. SHE WAS MY GRANDMA AND I WILL MISS HER IMMENSELY.



JUST LOOK AROUND THIS ROOM; SHE DID THIS. SHE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR BRINGING SO MANY GOOD PEOPLE INTO THIS WORLD AND TOGETHER TODAY. THIS IS HER LEGACY.



A Dedication To My Loving Wife, Stacey. Thank you for all you do for me!

Brad Paisley - I Thought I Loved You Then


I remember trying not to stare the night that I first met you
You had me mesmerized
3 weeks later in the front porch light taking 45 min to kiss you goodnight
I hadn’t told you yet but I thought I loved you then

Chorus
Now you’re my whole life now you’re my whole world
I just can’t believe the way I feel about you girl
Like a river meets the sea
Stronger than it’s ever been
We’ve come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then.

I remember taking you back to right where I first met you
You were so surprised
There were people around
But I didn’t care I got down on one knee right there
And once again I thought I loved you then

Chorus
Now you’re my whole life now you’re my whole world
I just can’t believe the way I feel about you girl
Like a river meets the sea
Stronger than it’s ever been
We’ve come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then.

I can just see you with a baby on the way
I can just see you when your hair is turning gray
What I can’t see is how I’m ever gonna love you more
But I’ve said that before.

Now you’re my whole life now you’re my whole world
I just can’t believe the way I feel about you girl
Well look back some day at this moment that we’re in
And I'll look at you and say I thought I loved you then
And I thought I loved you then...