Six months ago, my daily routine was drastically different from what it is today. I was living the life of a college student: going to class for a few hours a day, pushing off homework assignments until the last minute and remembering things for tests that can be forgotten the minute you leave the exam. When schoolwork wasn't taking up hours of the day, I could do whatever I felt like doing. If taking a morning off to be lazy and lay in my bed until noon was what I felt like doing, that was perfectly fine. If I wanted to go out to the bar at 3pm on a Thursday, no one would say anything about it. I knew that my time in college and what everyone calls "the best four years of your life" was running out soon, so I figured I might as well take advantage of these opportunities while the ability to do so still presents itself.

Once I officially graduated from Penn State, I had my job here at Howell Engineering, Surveying and Environmental lined up, and my official start date was marked on the calendar. I was a little nervous about starting my first professional job out of college and did not know what to expect. What would my new coworkers think of me? Would I be able to do the tasks given to me? Will I be able to interact with other people in the office? These are just a couple of the thoughts racing through my mind as my first day crept closer. As the days went by and I spent more time working in the office, I slowly began to interact with a bunch of different people, finding things to talk about, and I also began to get into a rhythm of getting work done. Weeks passed, and I felt more and more at home with my new position in the company. Now six months into the job, I have met many great people and learned so much in the civil engineering field. I realize that this is only the beginning and I have much more to learn. I know it's not usual to enjoy your first job out of college, but I guess I can just consider myself one of the lucky few to have found one of those jobs.

I also want to say thank you to some of the people here at Howell that have helped me the most so far in my short career. Working under Chris Daily and Dan McKenna about 99% of the time, they have helped me learn just about everything I know up to this point, so thank you for that. I also want to thank Jason Schmidt for answering any CAD questions that I have, you always seem to have an answer for whatever issue I run into. Thank you to anyone else who I did not name but who has helped me with any small general things throughout my workdays; I greatly appreciate everyone making me feel a part of the company.