NEWEA convened its 10th Annual Planning Session on March 6th and 7th in Manchester NH. As in past years, the primary goal of this Planning Session was to improve the Association to benefit our members and the interests of the water quality professions. Participation was open to all NEWEA members. This year the Planning Session topics were Young Professional Engagement and Student Engagement.
Session co-leaders were President Elect Jim Barsanti and Vice President Janine Burke-Wells with 40 attendees including municipal officials, operators, consulting engineers, manufacturer’s representatives, regulators, and educators. The format of the event includes breakout groups that discuss and evaluate concepts to address the topic and then develop a plan and schedule to implement recommended initiatives.
The Student Engagement topic was facilitated by Carina Hart of JK Muir, and focused on updating our NEWEA committee charges to include a wide range of suggestions for student engagement activities and developing a “toolkit” for NEWEA members to use for high school and trade school presentations.
The Young Professionals Engagement topic was facilitated by Anthony Giovannone of CDM Smith, and focused on establishing and refining the YP Committee structure; communicating the value of being involved with NEWEA as a YP; and establishing a YP Summit as a venue for mentoring/professional development at the Annual Conference.
These initiatives will be further reported on at our Executive Committee meeting and will be developed and refined over the course of the coming year. Thanks to all the attendees for their excellent work!
I’m excited to hear about the ideas! Let me know if you need any help! Great topics to help our organization grow. Great job Jim and Janine.