Anyone involved in land development can tell you that Reno's one tough place to work right now. But Scott Christy refuses to let the slowdown get him down.
In fact, there isn't much that gets this engineer off the positive track not even a life-threatening illness faced by his young daughter.
Christy is a principal at Wood Rodgers, where he landed six years ago when his company, Mountain West Consulting, was acquired by Wood Rodgers. Like others, his company that once had jobs booked years in advance now has just a few weeks work in the pipeline at any time. But his attitude hasn't changed.
"It's not frustrating, but you do have to get creative," he says. "We have to go out and make things happen. We try to be creative, do different things. We're looking at renewable energies and providing more services for the clients.
"I don't think it'll ever return to where it was, but I think we're skipping along the bottom now, and hopefully we'll make a nice slow ascent. I still love it. It's great to take a raw piece of land through development, from idea through fruition. I love the industry."
Staying positive in the face of adversity isn't new to Christy. The Wooster High School grad attended the University of Nevada, Reno, on a baseball scholarship, and he hoped for a career in baseball. But when injuries dictated a new path, his affinity for math and a life-long fascination with building things drew him to engineering. He loves his chosen profession and has never looked back well, almost never.
"I'm very happy with what I do, but in hindsight, I watch those guys playing golf on TV ... that looks like a nice way to make a living," he says with a grin.
Christy's golf game is the stuff of office legend.
"We try to avoid golf bets with Scott, because for some reason, I could beat him by 15 strokes, and I'd still owe him money. There's very creative gambling going on on the golf course," Steve Strickland, another principal at Wood Rodgers, says with a laugh.
Strickland's admiration for his colleague is apparent, even through the kidding.
"He's a very conscientious guy. I like his demeanor; he's always unflappable. Never in a panic," Strickland says. "And he's an exceptionally positive person. Throughout the whole thing with Alli, watching his life turn upside down, he just remained very positive."
Alli, Christy's 7-year-old daughter, was diagnosed three years ago with Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes. Christy remembers the date without hesitation: Aug. 8, 2006. He and wife Michelle had taken Alli to their pediatrician, and were thrown a knuckleball with the diagnosis of the disease: "We had no idea where it was going to go from there," he remembers.
"The first reaction after the diagnosis was 'She'll have to stop eating sugar' which is what many people think. We didn't know anything about it. We spent the next week in the hospital. It was really hard with a 4-year-old. Basically we had to hold her down to give her the shots. It was awful," he says.
There are two types of diabetes: Type 1 is juvenile, Type 2 is adult onset, which is more common and less severe. Type 2 means patients can have trouble regulating sugar levels, but it can often be controlled with lifestyle changes. With Type 1, it can not be controlled without insulin injections.
"And you don't grow out of it," Christy says. "You wait for a cure."
Living with juvenile diabetes means testing blood sugar levels 10 times a day, including all night long. It's also meant watching their son, Nate who is 4, for signs of the disease.
Christy and his family have chosen to fight the good fight.
"It's just a very labor-intensive deal. But Alli's doing fantastic. She's taking care of her self so well. It's pretty amazing to have a 7-year-old tell you, plus or minus a couple, how many carbs are on her plate. It's a tough disease. You have to stay on top of it," he says.
Christy and his wife took their fight a step further, too. They both are active volunteers with Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and Christy is the group's vice president. The couple got involved six months after Alli was diagnosed.
"We visit newly diagnosed patients and their families for support. Someone did this for us, and it made such a difference. We can tell them how hard it was when she was diagnosed, and they can see her now, three years later and doing great. It makes a huge difference," Christy says.
Christy marvels at how well his daughter handles her disease, and how nothing slows her down. Alli gave herself shots at 4 years old and stands as proof what a positive attitude can do.
"You have to make the shots when they count," Christy says, using a golf metaphor. "It's just what you do.
Then he adds, "My dream day is when this is over for Alli."
Who: Scott Christy
What: Principal, Wood Rodgers
Family: Wife, Michelle, daughter Alli, 7, and son Nate, 4.
He says: "Watching my kids do just about anything makes me happy."
