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President's Message - March 2012

At our February Branch meeting Cissy Sylo and Colin Blankenship made an announcement regarding the Branch’s G.B. Mann Scholarship Fund.  This fund was established over 20 years ago with donations from several Branch Members. In 1993, the Fund received a boost from George Boley (G.B.) Mann when he contributed a large sum of his retirement investments to the Fund.  An ASCE Past President and Life Member, G.B. retired from Texas Department of Transportation after 34 years of service.  He was active in ASCE and NSPE and contributed to the construction of numerous Texas highways.  In the mid-1990s, the Fund was named the “G.B. Mann Scholarship Fund.”

The Fund has continued to grow as the Branch has often been able to award scholarships using operational revenue rather than using either principal or interest from the Fund.  Under Cissy’s leadership, we are currently reassessing the Fund, how we invest it, and ways that we can raise money to increase the balance to even greater levels.

As Cissy pointed out in the letter she left on the tables at the February Branch meeting, our ability to help high school seniors enter college and major in civil engineering should be taken seriously.  Not only can we help someone go to college who might not otherwise be able, we can help guide someone to become a civil engineer.  Almost every published article on the subject of college education laments the need for more students to enter the fields of engineering, math, and science.

Last year, the Branch awarded scholarships to Phuong Phan, Josef Zepletel, and Anna Larson.  I had the pleasure to sit with Phuong and her parents at a Branch meeting and found her to be outstanding.  She had a passion for understanding how things worked, was interested in construction, and already had an arrangement to work for TxDOT as an intern after her first year at Texas A&M.  She is the type of person we need to encourage.

I have also been able to keep up with Kara Stewart, a scholarship recipient from 2010.  She and her family attend the same church as I do, so I get good information on her progress.  Her grades are good, she loves engineering, and participated this last fall in a mentor program to assist incoming engineering freshman at the University of Texas.

So how can you help?  As Cissy and Colin noted last month, you can always donate money.  Your Branch leadership really appreciates that.  But further, you can help promote our program by getting the word out to the schools your kids attend, the sports teams you may be familiar with, or other organizations you are active with (that is how Kara knew of us).  You can get additional information from Cissy ([email protected]) or Collin ([email protected]) or see the Branch website.  You can also direct candidates to our website for an application packet.

See you at our next meeting on Monday, March 12, 2012.