WMCC Student Sarah Tucker is Finalist in National GIS Competition
Photo left: Sarah Tucker of Bethel, Me., who earned her Associate in Science degree in Spatial Technology on May 20 at White Mountains Community College in Berlin (note globe atop mortarboard) has been named a finalist in the First Annual National GTCM Student Competition to be held on July 10 in San Diego, Cal. Sarah Tucker is the daughter of reporter Edith Tucker and Dan Tucker, both of Randolph. Photo by Edith Tucker.
Four students enrolled in Spatial Technology courses at White Mountains Community College were recognized on June 7 in the First Annual National GTCM Student Competition organized by the GeoTech Center at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Sarah Tucker of Bethel, Maine, who received her Associate in Science degree on May 20 at WMCC, was named one of the top six finalists in the Student Competition, qualifying her to participate in the next round of the competition next month during the ESRI Education User's Conference in San Diego, California. The six finalists will present their projects on Sunday, July 10, where the audience will select the top three finalists.
The other five finalists come from community colleges in North Carolina, Maryland, Florida, Virginia, and California. Finalists will receive their airfare and a four-night stay at the Holiday Inn Downtown in San Diego, California, plus registration fees for the Conference.
Three of the seven runners-up are WMCC students Crystal Ann Berwick, Lori Langlois, and Ryan Sutton. The other runners-up are from Florida, Virginia, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Ohio.
Photo right: Professor of Spatial Information Technology and program coordinator, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Margaret "Peg" Heaney. WMCC produced one of the six finalists and three runners-up. Only 13 student competitors from across the country were named as finalists or runners-up.
"I am so excited about this opportunity for Sarah!" Heaney said. " The International Conference brings together roughly 12,000 GIS professionals in one place to share knowledge and to hear about the latest uses and advances in GIS technology. The WMCC students all put together excellent projects, and the requirement to create a five-minute video presentation really helped them to succinctly summarize their work. Students came up with their own project ideas, found the data, and then completed their analysis," Heaney explained. "They all needed to do a good bit of research into their topic areas and use online resources to figure out how to accomplish their particular analysis."
Heaney downplays her supervisory role, however. "I got to mostly just stand back and lend encouragement and help guide the problem-solving if students got stuck," she explained. "I really love working with students on projects like this because they realize the complexities of real-world problems, have to integrate what they've learned in several different classes, and gain a lot of confidence in their abilities. Having our students perform so well in national competitions validates the program and helps the students recognize that they are as good as anyone else, even though they attend a small college in northern New Hampshire!"
Heaney is most appreciative that the GeoTech Center a National Science Foundation-funded initiative to promote geospatial education for hosting this competition.
Heaney earned her Associate in Science degree at New Hampshire Community Technical College in Berlin, her Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science at Allegheny College in Meadville, Penn.; and her Master of Professional Studies (M.P.S.) in Environmental Studies, Waste Management, at SUNY Stony Brook.
Sarah Tucker earned a bachelor's degree with honors in 1982 from Simmons College in Boston with a double major in economics and Spanish.
Article and photos by Edith Tucker.
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