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January 2024 President's Message

Happy New Year!

I feel like such a cliché saying that 2023 went by too fast, but it honestly did. While the last of 2023 was a whirlwind, I want to make sure to pause and congratulate our newest Houston Branch Award of Honor recipient, Julia Clarke. Julia served as Branch President for the 2019-2020 term, so she had the pleasure of serving when the pandemic hit and shut down all of our in-person events. Under her guidance and with the help of our current Section Director, Sarah Alvarez, our Branch was able to transition to a virtual platform for Branch meetings so that we could all stay in touch and keep up with our PDHs during the lockdown. I’m grateful to have experienced her leadership as an example for my own and am blessed that she is only a phone call away.

It’s been a bit of a crazy start to the year, but I’m looking forward to all that 2024 has in store. The Branch is currently working on rescheduling our County Engineers Panel, and we will be sharing that information with you as soon as we are able.

We are gearing up for our Annual Student Career Prep Workshop at the end of the month and I, for one, can’t wait to participate. It’s one of my passions to share my love of engineering with people of all ages and to help guide young people into my profession. Behind the scenes, the Branch is working on creating a Mentor Program for our members to continue that guidance into and throughout the careers of its members. If you want input on that program, please let me know and I can direct you to the committee chair. If you have already expressed interest, you should be expecting communication soon from the chair.

Another of my passions is to be involved with and make a difference within the community. The Branch would like to expand the existing YM Community Services activities to include more community activities at all levels. The Community Service Committee is looking for volunteers and events to serve the community, so please let me know if you have information on either of those. Members who have already expressed interest will be contacted shortly.

In other exciting news: I’d like to congratulate several of our Board members on their recent nuptials: Uttam Karmaker, Anna Theiss (future Chamberlain), and Alberto Dorantes! If you see them, please share your happy wishes!

As always, I welcome any feedback on Branch activities to enable better service for our members.

Thanks,

Alexa Nichols