Little did I know how my childhood toys would lead to a career in engineering.
The actual sequence may be a bit fuzzy, but I think my first toy was a truck crane. Fully operable as far as the crane functions were concerned. Mom let me use a box of pasta as a substitute for real dirt (indoors of course). Wish that toy had remained in pristine condition as it would now be a pricey collectible.
Next was Kenner's Girder & Panel Building Set (the basic version). I had a particular fun project building a tower up through the Christmas tree in & around the branches. Very prophetic much later in my career.
I graduated from that set to Kenner's Hydro-Dynamic set. This caused a bit of angst with my parents because of the use of water - a lot of stuff got wet because of my tinkering.
Of course, these are the indoor toys (except for the crane). During Summer vacation my mom pushed us outdoors when the weather was decent. I lived on a subsistence farm with a pond and multiple streams to play in. Thankfully I was outdoors more than indoors and always found something to keep involved in (read mischief).
My neighborhood buddy up the street and I got into building and destroying multiple dams on those streams. We always got a kick out of totally cutting off water to a downstream portion, then busting the dam to see how much flooding would occur. I got into a major dam project on the larger stream that fostered my understanding of water diversion to facilitate dam construction. Today's Inland Wetlands & Watercourses Commission would have issued a Cease & Desist order had they discovered my endeavors. I was able to back up the stream for about 300 feet upstream and at times raised the water level by a foot or more.
Of course my buddy & I built the requisite 'forts' and a great succession of tree houses, one of which housed the first Playboy magazine that we had lifted. That treehouse lasted well beyond our venture in getting drivers' licenses and the beginning of a fascination with cars.
Back to the earlier years. Dad provided a pile of sand for us to play in. The aforementioned crane found its way outside of course, and ultimately included other construction vehicles. I was especially entranced by tracked vehicles. At some point I discovered that certain soil, mixed with water, poured into the space between 2 vertical boards, and dried by the sun would provide a vertical 'wall'. That expanded my creativity and allowed for the construction of roads, bridges and mud (adobe I suppose) buildings. Naturally after a heavy rain I'd have to start all over again.
Once high school loomed near, I opted for a technical high school's Architectural Drafting program. This was in the mid-late 1960s so CAD was not yet on the horizon. I readily adapted to CAD (AutoCAD) and now almost all of my thinking, planning and tinkering is done on the computer.
My career path started less than a year after high school graduation as a position of drafter for a building products manufacturer and distributor. I became a detailer of open web joists initially, and then worked into their concrete construction division.
As time went on a district manager convinced me to take college courses and work towards getting a BSCE degree, which I ultimately achieved. It took 13 years though, working fulltime with extended periods of overtime. I was unique in that I obtained my first P.E. license 2 years BEFORE receiving my BSCE.
What I think is really ironic were a couple of things. The sandbox experience with mud (adobe) structures and then being involved in the design of concrete forms, and the associated temporary structures need to support them. Remember the tower and the Christmas tree? This fostered some insight in designing temporary works needed for modifying existing structures.
All in all, my career has been very gratifying, albeit not newsworthy. It's unfortunate that the many people who have the 'hands on' in making noteworthy structures reach completion do not get the same kind of recognition granted to those who conceived and designed them. Were it not for those workers these kinds of accomplishments would never have been realized.
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Ralph Tulis P.E., M.ASCE
General Manager
Willington CT
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-28-2020 01:32 PM
From: Danielle Schroeder
Subject: How have LEGOS or other toys inspired you to pursue civil engineering?
Today, January 28th , is National LEGO Day: https://nationaltoday.com/national-lego-day/ . Although I did not connect it to civil engineering at the time, I loved playing with LEGOS as a little kid. I especially loved the Harry Potter sets since it connected to my love of reading while still letting me build random creations for my mini-figures.
During some recent cleaning at home, I found a photo of me at age 3 playing with LEGOS that I thought I would add. Feel free to add photos to your posts as well if you would like!
My question for you all is how have LEGOS have inspired you to pursue civil engineering? If not LEGOS, is there another toy that inspired you?
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Danielle Schroeder EIT, A.M.ASCE
Associate Engineer
Pennoni Associates
Philadelphia PA
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