When Mike McCully's '22 dad moved his company, McCully Land Surveying, out of their house and into its new commercial headquarters, Mike got stuck lugging the heaviest filing cabinets. He also made several coffee runs. It wasn't a son doing his dad a favor, it was an intern fulfilling miscellaneous internship responsibilities.
Mike is an environmental studies major; his dad's company draws boundary line land surveys in central New York, among other services. On the surface, there's not much overlap, and so Mike never felt drawn to the family business. But then McCully Land Surveying began to field requests for soil conservation surveys. That work is outside Mr. McCully's area of expertise, but he did know a Siena student who was doing exactly that kind of work in his environmental studies courses.
"I never considered surveying; that's an engineer's job. But then my dad started getting requests for soil conservation studies. Permeability, surface water, ground water - that's all stuff I do in my labs. All of a sudden, an internship with my dad made sense, and he was able to hand much of that work off to me."
Every house that's sold requires an updated survey, and as part of the internship, Mike has gotten an education in the surveying business. He learned to read the property's original survey, and with a metal detector, he'd find iron pins in the ground that mark the property's boundary. The job is done outdoors, a must for someone allergic to sitting behind a desk. And with the added dimension of conservation, Mike is a natural candidate to join his father's business.
"I never feel any pressure from him. My dad just wants me to be happy. I'm going to get my MBA next year. I think it'll be really powerful to have an education on the business side and the environmental side. I don't want to take the easy path, and just assume there will be a job with my dad. But, I do want to see how I can use my Siena education to move his business forward."
In the meantime, the Siena baseball season has started, and that will keep Mike busy through the spring. But whether he's on the mound or on a surveying job with his dad, Mike is happiest outdoors. Soon, he'll figure out the best way he can protect the outdoors .
"Growing up, I always spent my time outside hunting and fishing. I want kids in the future to have the same access I have to wildlife, but there are fewer and fewer opportunities. I'd like to leave this earth in the same condition to the next generation, but we need solutions for pollution and clean energy, and people who are willing to make a difference."
Mike McCully '22
