|
 |
|
Emily Zvolanek |
Emily Zvolanek, a 2006
graduate of Monmouth College, was selected to receive one of the
Outstanding Student Awards from the Illinois Geographic Information
Systems Association (ILGISA). She received the award at the
organization’s annual spring conference on April 22 in Springfield.
Zvolanek said that
the award, which is presented each year to no more than five students
throughout the state, came about through one of the many positive
experiences she had at her alma mater.
“By attending Monmouth College, I was
given opportunity,” she said. “I had the opportunity to become the
leader of several organizations – sometimes simultaneously – and I
learned valuable leadership and time management skills. I was given the
opportunity to study topics outside of my major and become multifaceted.
I was given the opportunity to grow, to learn and become a better
person, and I did.”
The ILGISA award is presented to students of any major who have included
GIS in their course of study and who have demonstrated exemplary
proficiency and understanding of GIS and offer potential contribution to
the GIS community.
Zvolanek’s contribution is more than “potential,” as she is currently
employed by the Chicago suburb of Burr Ridge as its GIS expert. One of
that city’s engineers, David Pressig, contacted MC professor Chris
Fasano and suggested that he nominate Zvolanek for the award. Pressig
also contributed a strong letter of support for her.
GIS is the common name for
any system for capturing, storing, analyzing and managing data and
associated attributes that are spatially referenced to Earth. It’s a
tool that allows users to create interactive queries, analyze the
spatial information, edit data, create maps and present the results of
those operations. An example application of GIS might be creating maps
that show the location of the occurrences of specific types of disease
or injury within a certain geographic area.
After completing her degree in environmental science at Monmouth,
Zvolankek remained on campus as one of the first participants in
Monmouth’s post-baccalaureate program. Post-baccalaureate students stay
at MC for an additional year and work on a project of their choice with
an adviser.
“She
learned, very independently, and came to master both our latest copies
of ArcView as well as our new, high-precision GPS unit,” said Fasano,
who was her adviser. “Her ability to learn and work with minimal
supervision was incredibly impressive. She taught me and other students
what she learned in a number of talks that she organized and gave.”
Zvolanek spent part of her
extra year helping the city of Monmouth get some of its GIS projects up
and running, including research into a possible Rails to Trails project.
Besides her work for the city, her work
for the college figures to have an impact for years to come.
“Much of the year I spent learning how to
use the software and technology, then writing mini-manuals on the Moodle
GIS site for how to use the GPS unit,” she said. “I created a basic map
so people interested in GIS at Monmouth can have a quick reference
system to use instead of the thick manuals and trial-and-error system I
used.”
“She documented her work so well that her documentation is the place
that new students start when they are interested in GIS,” praised Fasano.
“Quite honestly, I, too, would be lost without this excellent
documentation. She learned, documented and, quite literally, moved GIS
from a novelty to a real, viable entity on our campus.”
Monmouth is indebted for Zvolanek’s work,
but she said that the campus community has more than returned the favor.
“Shortly after the college contacted me
about a news release on the award, I was talking with two people at
work,” she said. “They both said no one had ever written a press release
about them. After the release was posted on the MC Web site, Coach
(Steve) Bell, whom I had never met before, sent me an e-mail
congratulating me on the award. The close-knit community at Monmouth is
one of my favorite things about the college. It transcends a college
campus and really is more of a family.”
Zvolanek said that family feel is the
memory of Monmouth College that she expects to last the longest.
“The people are what make the college and
what I will remember most,” she said. “From lengthy conversations with
Dr. Fasano, to discussing the meaning of life Fridays at the philosophy
and religious studies house, to play rehearsals with Doc Wallace, these
are experiences I only could have had at Monmouth College. Attending
Monmouth gave me a full college experience.”
Now in Burr Ridge, Zvolanek’s job focus
has been in the city’s public works department, she explained.
“Over the course of the past few years the
department has had different people record the points of the water main
and storm and sanitary sewers, including all the manholes, fire
hydrants, etc. My job has been to compile that data, input any missing
data and create updated maps of the water system.”
Zvolanek, who is currently taking classes
for her GIS certification, also reports that she is working on a map of
Burr Ridge’s storm sewer system that the Environmental Protection Agency
requires by law.
“The village has had the beginnings of a GIS for several years, but now
it is really getting off the ground,” she said.
Thanks to her undergraduate and
postgraduate opportunities at Monmouth, Zvolanek’s career is getting off
the ground, as well.
