Hometown Heroes - Rontez Manning
Rontez Lemont Manning, also known as "Tez" is a 27 year old graduate of Christian County High School. After graduating in 2010, he obtained an Associates of Science in Engineering with concentration in Civil Engineering, a Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering, and is currently pursuing a Professional Engineering License (P.E.). In high school, he played football and ran track. He was also an honor graduate completing the Project Lead the Way Engineering program at trade school. In college is was very active in the academic world, receiving Math Intensive Majors Program-offered scholarships. He was an active member in American Society of Civil Engineers student chapter (ASCE), where he was a part of the Steel Bridge competition placing 1st overall and competed in Nationals placing 17th out of 250 schools. He is an active member Texas Society of Professional Engineers (TSPE) and the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). He was a NASA Granted Climate Research Undergraduate Research Assistant in concentration of harvesting energy. He also played Flag Football and received various Internships.
His current position as a MOT Field Engineer- (Traffic Control Engineer) involves math and engineering. His day to day operations include managing and coordinating with subcontractors for different activities, pay apps and labor reports. Along with maintenance of traffic, which includes implementing and design of permanent and/or temporary traffic control within the project limits. He also works directly under a Professional Engineer.
His Aspirations for obtaining his career came when he was growing up. He always wanted to know how Buildings, Bridges, Roads and Damns were built and designed. He knew what he wanted to be in high school. He wanted to be that professional to know how things worked and what it took to do so. In addition, that motivated him to pursue such a profession. As he continued to do his research on a Civil Engineer learned about the different things they did. STEM plays an active role in his life and career through engineering design work and using analytical skills while problem solving.
He advises students, when you are pursuing something, know “why” you are doing it. It will keep you focused and it will become something you are much more passionate about. The best time to figure out what you want to pursue in Civil Engineering while studying is to look into different internships/job opportunities that you may be interested in. Take full advantage of career fairs as they can be rewarding. Study hard and never give up!