MARIETTA - Nick Thornton, a junior at Southern Polytechnic State University, was recently selected as the 2010 Engineering Technology Student of the Year by the Georgia chapter of the National Society of Professional Engineers.

Thornton, 21, of Flowery Branch, was presented with the award during the Georgia Engineering Alliance awards banquet on Feb. 20 at the Georgia Tech Hotel & Conference Center in Atlanta.

Georgia's Engineer of the Year competition recognizes deserving and dedicated engineers who have made valuable contributions to the profession. The competition is open to all engineers in the state and students enrolled in a Georgia Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology school.

Thornton is pursuing a bachelor's degree in civil engineering technology at SPSU.

"It was definitely surreal at first," Thornton said of the award. "I didn't think I was that great to get an award. It was definitely something that really made my day when I heard."

Thornton was nominated for the award by Nancy Turner, a professor in SPSU's civil engineering technology department. In addition, he was required to submit two essays on why he should be selected.

"Nick Thornton was a student in two of my courses in the fall semester, both of which had a weekly lab," said Turner. "I got to know more about him since we interacted five days a week. I realized that besides being an excellent student and well-liked by his peers, he was very involved in roles of leadership in the engineering profession."

Thornton said he primarily chose to study civil engineering because of its importance to our everyday lives.

"I couldn't do anything each day, as far as travel to school or go to class without someone who is a civil engineer who developed the roads, designed the building and designed the power system that delivers the power to the building," said Thornton.

Another reason, he said, was his disdain for a career that requires him to sit behind a desk for long hours.

After graduation, Thornton plans to obtain a master's degree in structural engineering from Clemson University. Then he wants to go west and land a job for experience, before he opens his own structural engineering firm someday.

On campus, Thornton serves as vice president of the SPSU student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Institute of Transportation Engineers. He is also captain of the university's Concrete Canoe Team.

Each year, the team competes against other colleges in the design and racing of concrete canoes they build. The competition is sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Academic scholarships are awarded to the winning teams' undergraduate civil engineering programs at the national competition.

The 2010 Southeastern Regional Conference competition is scheduled March 19-20 at Auburn University.

"The last day you get to race against the other teams," said Thornton. "We can fit up six or more in there and you wouldn't have a problem with the flotation."

Occasionally, Thorntorn returns to his alma mater, Flowery Branch High School, as a guest speaker to the pre-engineering courses. He also mentors the Future City team for West Hall Middle School in Hall County.

"A lot of the (students) I talk to say, 'I'd like to be an engineer, but I'm just not good at math or not that meticulous to be an engineer,'" says Thornton.

"I tell them it's a tough degree, but it's suppose to be tough. People are entrusting their lives and well-being to you as an engineer. So, it's tough but you just got to hang with it. One day you're going to look back on those hard times and say it was completely worth it. I absolutely love it."