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August 2014 - Younger Member Update

As the Younger Member Chair of the Dallas Branch, I had the opportunity to attend this year’s ASCE Texas Section’s Leadership Development weekend in Corpus Christi.  The theme of the weekend was “Mission Possible” in which we were the secret agents receiving our orders and being introduced to the tools developed for us to accomplish our mission.  A series of Learning Modules describing our mission was presented by our Texas Section President Elect, Curtis Beitel.  Here’s a brief recap of some key topics.

• The Mission:
  ASCE’s mission is to develop a sense of professionalism through our Global Leaders and an advocacy for infrastructure and environmental stewardship.
• What it takes:
  As Civil Engineers we are charged with lifelong learning to increase our technical aptitudes and inspire the trust of the public, so that we can lead them to a better infrastructure.
  We must continue to raise the awareness of civil engineering issues through education, politics, and technology to continue to grow the industry and the public support for the civil engineering profession.
• How to accomplish the mission:
  Knowing how to get the job done or knowing the right person to get the job done.  In ASCE we must find the balance of technical nourishment and social nourishment.  We must always be striving to become experts in our field of practice, however, with the broad spectrum of civil engineering disciplines, it is in our favor to know the right expert for whatever problem may arise.   ASCE on a National level will provide better opportunities for you to grow your technical aptitude, and we must take advantage of the networking capabilities provided at the local branch level.
  
  

The conference was not only learning.  We also had the opportunity to develop deeper relationships through shared experiences with ASCE leaders from all over of Texas.  The Texas Section ASCE Staff arranged a Geo-Caching event for us in which we navigated the Corpus Christi Bayfront area in search of several waypoints which ultimately lead us to the ASCE plaque on the Corpus Christi Seawall, a Texas Historical Civil Engineering Landmark. 

A valuable lesson that I took out of this weekend was that each activity has 3 purposes:
1. The activity itself
2. Gaining the leadership skills from performing the activity
3. Deepening relationships through shared experience

Volunteer opportunity:
Saturday August 9th, we will be volunteering at Harvesting Hope Community Garden in Arlington, Texas.  This organization meets for four hours every Saturday to feed the hungry.  If you would like to come join the younger members in giving back to the community, please email Morris Layton at [email protected].

Summer Social!!!
We are in the process of setting up the next social event.  Alexis Clark, a past president of the University of Texas Student Chapter has offered to set up our next gathering and is open for suggestions and support.  If you have any ideas or would like to lend a hand, please contact me at [email protected]

-Fabian Herrera, EIT - Project Manager, Petitt Barraza LLC