Stanley Plante:
CLASS OF 1980
Walter Johnson High SchoolClass of 1980
Bethesda, MD
Bethesda-Chevy Chase High SchoolClass of 1980
Bethesda, MD
Stanley's Story
Life
Last edit 8/2/2006
Got married shortly out of college in 1985. Julie and I have four children 18, 13, 10 and 14 months (born May 31, 2005). I guess we're not great planners. We lived in Burke, VA for 15 years and moved to Chagrin Falls, OH in summer of 2000.
Chagrin Falls is a little quieter than the DC Metro area. We are about 30 miles east of Cleveland. We are in the lake effect (Lake Erie) snow belt.
Our graduated high school senior is headed to University of Dayton this Fall. With four kids spread over 17+ years, there is always something up in the house.
Michaela (Mia) has been a joy. Everyone enjoys taking care of her so she has lots of parents. She is the most mischievous, or is it just the [parents'] age?
School
These are interesting questions. My biggest crush? She knows. Back of the station wagon about 1972, me trying to figure out how to get out of there. I'll probably never get over her.
I liked Mr. Tippins and Frau Vendel. I went back to WJ it didn't seem like that much later after graduation and I was amazed at how many of the teachers were gone.
One of my lasting memories is the (to my recollection) hundreds of kids who met up in the parking lot every Friday night to drink beer and just hang out. Every time my daughter is in trouble I think back to how loose things were when we were in high school.
College
I went to Maryland. The easy way out. It was easier to get into then. I had no idea what I wanted to do, but my student helper at orientation told me I had high math scores, so I should go into engineering. So I did. I decided to co-op, which I didn't care for, so my last year I took 53 credits so I could catch up with my classmates (and future wife) and graduate in 4. That wasn't that much fun.
Maryland was a blast. The Rendezvous with your feet sticking to the floor, who needed anything else? We had a bunch of engineers in our dorm. We would finish all our homework right after classes, then head to the "Vous" for $2.25 pitchers ($1.25 happy hour).
It was also great having big-time sports. I still follow the teams closely via the Internet (the Cleveland paper doesn't recognize any conferences outside the Big Ten and the MAC).
Workplace
I worked gas stations in high school and college, and also worked at the luggage place in White Flint called "The Complement." I also worked o...Expand for more
n campus fixing things for Physical Plant, but that was mostly a ploy to gain easy access to the women's dorms.
After graduating, I started with an Environmental Engineering firm called Camp Dresser & McKee where I still work. The office was in Annandale, VA, so Julie and I moved close to there after we got married.
I spent my first year doing water resources studies that nobody else wanted to do for the State of Maryland and State of Florida. After that I got a chance to re-compile a water distribution modeling software package written in FORTRAN to run on the office's first personal computer, a 4MHz IBM PC AT screamer, MUCH faster than the XT. I also had to reprogram the model to meet some of the requirements that the project manager had promised, and I learned to apply the model to analyze water distribution systems for future growth (and recommend water tanks, pumps and pipes that would be needed). I made a career of this for about 12 years, working on and then managing master plans for communities primarily in Virginia, but I helped trouble-shoot problems people had with models all over the country, so I got to travel a lot.
In 1996, my career took a turn when I was offered a chance to manage a Geographic Information System (GIS) implementation project in Hong Kong. I was not qualified and I was not the company's first choice (or second or third), but I knew a lot about water distribution systems and took a chance, so they were able to sell me and we won the job and executed it successfully. Early in that project I switched groups to the Information Management Systems group. Since then I led a small group in Virginia, then moved to Ohio to start a group in the Midwest.
In 2004 our company reorganized and I was made the Technical Service Manager for IMS. I currently lead a group of more than 100 GIS and application development professionals nationwide. It's a little boring being in a management position and I have to deal with a lot of BS and administrivia, or cluster foxtrots as we like to call them. So to make things interesting I keep my hand in the water distribution projects where possible.
I travel a lot - surely coming to a town near you. I've been considering moving on but I haven't found the right fit yet. Also, the Cleveland area despite its poor reputation is a great place to raise a family.
Military
Nope.
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