Articles

President’s Message - June 2012

School is out!

For those of us with kids (I have a college and a high school sophomore) the end of the school year is quite a milestone. No more homework, tests, projects, or papers for three months! Both kids have summer jobs with my youngest just starting on what may be a 50+ year period of part time and full time employment. 

I am sure that all of us can remember our first job. If you are like me, you started out taking anything (my first job was as a cook at the Sea Shack) and then with a little experience I was able to land a summer job in the engineering field. My first engineering summer job was with the City of Arlington which was followed by a couple of summers with Trinity Engineering Testing Company (TETCO). They were great jobs and provided me with a better understanding of civil engineering and what it would take to succeed later in life. At the time, I may have been thinking about the pay, but today my memories are only of the experiences, most of them related to engineering.

Nathan Williams joined our office this week as a summer intern. He received his Bachelor Degree last month and will be starting graduate school at Texas A&M in the fall. He is helping us with fieldwork, CAD, and basic structural analysis and in return we plan to help him gain valuable experience in structural engineering. It seems like a win-win.

I have asked around and was a little surprised to learn that many firms have cut back on the use of summer interns, which is unfortunate. In fact, I contacted the City of Arlington for a family friend (civil engineering student at Colorado State home for the summer) and learned that no engineering interns are in the public works department budget for this summer. This is understandable given the economic times; I just hope it turns around in years to come. I believe that employers and students alike benefit from intern opportunities, so I encourage you to consider hiring a summer intern or a co-op student during the year.

In addition to contributing to our profession by the hire of interns or co-op students, I have another opportunity for you. Each year, our Branch elects new officers and fills committee positions. Our new year begins in October, but we will be starting the nomination process this summer. If you are interested in a greater involvement with your Branch, now is the time to start talking about it. 

The immediate Past President is the chairperson of our nominations committee. That would be Jeff Hawkins; however Jeff moved to west Texas last year, so Faisal Syed, the Branch President from a few years ago is filling in. Faisal can be reached at 214-252-1600 or[email protected] if you would like to make a nomination for a Branch Officer position. In addition, Sean Merrell will be Branch President next year and will be filling various committee positions. Sean can be reached at 972-929-5457 or [email protected].

So, think about interns, the Dallas Branch, and how you may be able to assist!

See you at our next meeting on Monday, June 11, 2012.

Douglas L. Smith, P.E.
President
ASCE Dallas Branch, 2011 - 2012