Mitch Thobe: ”Many kids dress up for Halloween as what they want to be when they grow up–some Batman, some an NFL football player. Justin had it figured out very early.”

Eight years after the Halloween “costume” photo on the left, Justin’s goal of working for Choice One Engineering has come true—last week he was hired full-time as a civil engineer after graduating from Ohio State.

Although he’s only been a full-time employee for a couple of weeks, Justin was featured in Choice Mindsets several times as a co-op. Indeed, he’s sweated it out thanks to Dan Perriera’s stingy management of air conditioning. And he made his acting debut in The Choice One Team video last summer as “Excited Property Owner” and “Field Surveyor with Machete #2.” A double billing!

Justin, the sky’s the limit here at Choice One for you—you’ll probably be controlling the A/C and winning an Oscar before too long. Just remember the three “Ds” of new Choice One employees: Develop great projects, Dress in green always, and, of course, Doughnuts for all after your first paycheck.

Link Thobe: “Daddy, I want to see the water drain!”

Link is the 2-year-old son of one of Choice One’s stormwater engineer Tyler Thobe and wife Brittany. While out and about near his home with his parents (who were watching for traffic), Link couldn’t help but check out the catch basin structure along the street. And we agree–stormwater is interesting, Link!

It’s hard not to let our engineering, surveying, and landscape architecture passions rub off on our families and friends. Despite the fact that his kids are all adults now, designer Brian Barhorst is still probably dragging his family past Choice One roadway projects all over Ohio. Jeff Puthoff’s  “dress like dad for Halloween” sons are both studying to be engineers like dad (and Justin starts full-time at Choice One next week!). And although he hasn’t been hired as a surveyor yet, surveyor Eric Kuck’s son Owen, now 8 years old, probably fits into his dad’s Choice One shirt a little better now than he did at age 2.

We hope you inspire more kids get into stormwater management, Link. Who doesn’t like to splash in puddles, run in the rain, review times of concentration, and calculate composite runoff coefficients? Keep checking out those catch basins, too—we appreciate your enthusiasm toward flow rates and invert elevations!

Matt Lefeld: “I just want to note that I had nothing to do with this!”

A likely story, Matt Lefeld. Caught in the wrong place at the wrong time? Sounds like a Ryan Francis excuse.

Administrative professional Abbey Swick, on the left, may be fairly new to Choice One, but it doesn’t take long to want to keep another Matt—pesky president Matt Hoying—out of her hair by rigging the door to his office shut with a length of rope. What Abbey didn’t account for, though, was Matt Hoying’s craftiness: he climbed out of his office window to spoil Abbey’s prank. That Matt Lefeld just “happened” to be in the vicinity? A likely story, indeed.

Whether Matt Lefeld was accidentally caught in the crossfire or lent Abbey his knowledge on knots, one thing is for sure: when there is a Choice One Matt in the vicinity, there will be smiles (indeed, surveyor Matt West even draws smiles from random canine helpers)! Smiling or not, don’t stop aggravating those Matts for us, Abbey. Thanks for tying… er, trying!

Barry Tiffany, Sugarcreek Township: “Looks like we dodged having Kyle on our team.”

We’re not sure if this is the EXACT moment Barry [far right, above] spoke the quote, but based on Choice One designer Kyle Siegrist’s antics, we would guess it might be close to the exact moment. We’ll go easy on Kyle, though, since last week Choice One held its annual Sidney Charity Cup (with a Price is Right theme), and Kyle willingly demonstrated how to “Come on down!” while throwing a tennis ball.

No matter the bucketball play by Kyle or anyone else, the night was a success: our generous clients and friends donated a total of $7,500 to benefit two organizations: the Logan County United Way (for Tornado Relief) and the Miami Valley Down Syndrome Association. With their funds, the MVDSA will once again be able to hold their summer picnic at Young’s Jersey Dairy, treating member families to games, tours, and ice cream. We couldn’t have been more excited had we won both Showcase Showdowns!

Throughout the Charity Cup night, PLINKO chips were tossed, participants asked the audience for help, [toy] cars were given away, and CTL Engineering emerged as the 2024 Bucketball Champion. But the real winners of the night were all those who came and supported the MVDSA and Logan County with such generous donations. THANK YOU to our friends and clients—and don’t forget to spay and neuter your pets!

Watch the video of all the action here!

Congrats to the 2024 Charity Cup Winners CTL Engineering!
(l-r) Choice One’s Mike Francis, Kevin Reichert, Ollie Alldritt, and Terry Muhlenkamp

Casey Reichert: “Picked up the baby. Honestly, it weighs as much as my toddler.”

It’s Sidney Charity Cup time again, and that means the traveling trophy has come home safely for its annual polishing in prep for the March 27^th event. If you’ve never won or at least beheld this trophy or its Loveland sibling, you may not know that it’s HEAVY. Like, 18-month-old Collette Reichert heavy.

We’ve featured Colette’s brother Urban in a Mindset before—remember when he won the NCAA pool last March and brought us cinnamon rolls? Indeed, there have been quite a few other Choice One kids’ smiles featured in Mindsets over the years: “new hire” surveyor Owen Kuck, future engineers Justin and Jake Puthoff, scanning helpers Carly and Danielle Barhorst, that adorable trio of kiddos named after local communities, the dad-supporting Goubeaux kids, and filing assistant Ryann Bornhorst (albeit sleeping and not smiling…). Just looking back on all these memories makes us smile, too!

The toddler-sized trophy and the event it represents next week are about smiles, too! During the Sidney Charity Cup, we’re excited to make a difference in the lives of lots of area kids and families by supporting the Miami Valley Down Syndrome Association and Ronald McDonald House Charities. The excitement generated through funds raised by our clients and friends at this event is sure to be priceless. So buckle up and help us drive a few smiles for great causes next week!

Michael Seeger: “’Ceeeeee’ if you can guess where my ship is…”

This past weekend we enjoyed another annual Choice One Game Night. While there was no crowning of the Most Fun Spouse, project manager Michael Seeger was trying to be the Most Helpful Spouse by giving his wife Andrea some hints around what coordinates to guess next during our intense Battleship tournament.

Like Michael helping Andrea, we try to be a helpful bunch. For instance, the Battleship tournament champs—Shae Swick (administrative professional Abbey’s husband), surveyor Eric Kuck, and traffic engineer Mike Goettemoeller—trusted in helpfulness to win out. According to Mike G., the winning strategy was to “…rely on my teammates. Since Eric is a surveyor, he has a good understanding of boundaries and mapping things. Shae is a software engineer, so he is a very strategic thinker.” Smart!

Don’t sell yourself short, Mike G., we’re pretty sure your traffic safety skills helped your Battleship team in a roundabout way. And Michael Ceeeee-ger, don’t sweat your loss despite your helpful, hint-ful efforts. We know when it really matters, you’re clear about helping our clients and projects succeed (and blatantly obvious about helping coworkers stay grounded)!