Throughout the month of August, Tyler LaPointe attended the 164th Regional Training Institute (RTI) at Camp Grafton in Devils Lake, N.D. LaPointe, who serves as an E-6 Staff Sergeant (SSG) in the Army National Guard, completed the Technical Engineer Supervisor Advanced Leadership Course (12T3O ALC).

The course required 30 days of rigorous training. In which, LaPointe learned alongside “the most overall technically proficient group of soldiers” he had ever been given the opportunity to work with.

The Advanced Leadership Course focuses primarily on project management within the surveying field. Specific topics covered within the course include verifying soils, material analysis and testing, processing survey data, planning survey missions, producing construction site designs, construction management, roadway and culvert design, as well as planning geodetic airfield surveys.

“ALC prepared me to plan and manage military projects from start to finish—planning travel, lodging, man hours and coordinating all things associated with the project,” said LaPointe.

LaPointe has been a member of the L.I. Smith & Associates (LIS) team for over two years. He works part-time as a survey technician in the Paris office, where he draws surveys within the Carlson software system, while also working closely with the survey teams to ensure projects are completed.

“The engineering courses that SSG LaPointe took at Camp Grafton will provide him with leadership training that L. I. Smith & Associates does not provide. 30 days off from work to get the quality training that SSG LaPointe received is well worth the investment,” stated LIS Vice President Larry Smith.

In conjunction to his role in the Army National Guard and position at LIS, LaPointe is currently working toward earning a Bachelor of Science in Surveying and Mapping from East Tennessee State University.