New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Meet Christian Farland, a 36 year-old civil engineer from New Bedford.
Living in the city his entire life, he felt a commitment to the community and decided to continue to live and raise his family here and start his career. After moving out of his home during his junior year in high school and having a child at 19, just a few years later, he was still able to graduate from The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth with a Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering. He stated that math always come easy to him and pursued a career in it due to the impact of Mrs. Baptiste and Mrs. Bourgeois, two math teachers he had growing up.
Currently, he is the owner of two local businesses: Thompson Farland, which is a civil engineering and land surveying company and Farland Corp, which handles site construction. He started Thompson Farland in 2008 during the midst of the economic turmoil this country was facing and received criticism that it would take off. Years later, and after 60-70 hour work weeks at times, the company has proved itself successful.
Christian’s love for the rich history and culture has given him the drive to see improvement in this city, like a better school system and the flourishing of downtown New Bedford. In his venture to do this, he has been involved with the South Coast Business Alliance for the past 7 years and has been the President for the past 3 years. He also sits on the UMass Faculty Advisor Board and South Coast Health Presidents Council.
“You can do or be anything you want, the opportunities are out there. You just need to make sure you are ready when the opportunity comes your way. It doesn’t happen over night but by setting short-term goals and taking it one day at a time you will get there.”
Faces of New Bedford is a project by Colton Simmons. If you are interested in booking a shoot or getting prints from the series email all inquiries to colton@coltonsimmons.com
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