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Post President's Message Archive - October 2008
SAME Washington DC Post > Post Operations > Post President's Message > Post President's Message Archive
Embracing Change
As autumn arrives and
we are reminded of
change, I am reminded of one of the Post goals
set this year by the
Board of Direction: establishing
a student
chapter. Since last
year, the number of
student chapters nationally
has grown
from about 16 to 25.
This desired change for our Post will formalize the
mentoring we already accomplish with students,
and formalize the already great scholarship and college
outreach programs that we have established.
With school back in session, we are anxious to pursue
our chartering of a chapter with local universities.
To sustain a student chapter, we need the
support of uniformed members, sustaining members,
and Fellows. If you are interested in helping
with this endeavor, please contact myself, Al O’Konski,
or any member of the Post Board of Direction.
Board of Direction Changes
Ms. Susan Merrigan, 1st Vice President of the
Post, has moved with her family to Florida! Susan
served on the Board for over 8 years in a variety of
positions and will be missed. We appreciate her
service, and the generosity of her former employer,
Leo A Daly in allowing her to support Post activities.
Also, Mr. Stephen Termaath, PhD, PE, (USAF) our
post Awards Chair for over the past 12 years, has
moved to San Antonio, TX! Steve will also be
missed and has served the Post with distinction.
With these changes, we are pleased to welcome
Mr. David A. Schoenwolf, PE, of as our new
Awards Chair, and on to our Board of Direction.
David has served in the past as the president of the
American Council of Engineering Companies Metropolitan
Washington Chapter, and is a Senior Vice
President with Haley and Aldrich.
At this time I’d also like to encourage the uniformed
services that support our Post to become more engaged
in the Post Board of Direction (BOD), committees
and activities. We are approaching the
‘nominations season’ for new BOD members and
the Post benefits with service members at functions
along with our sustaining members. Individuals benefit by contributing and participating. There is a
lot of opportunity to serve and provide leadership in
the Post, and the Post needs you! This is easy for me to write about, but requires your participation!
Summer Activities and September Partnering
Since our last newsletter, the Post has partnered
and presented several great programs highlighted
in greater detail elsewhere in this newsletter. It participated
in the ACEC / MW annual meeting in June.
The Post sponsored Caroline Schweitzer, a high
school student, for the SeaBee construction camp
in California, and heard her fantastic presentation
about her experience during the August program.
The July program featured the Bethesda BRAC,
and the August program was about the Smithsonian
Institution. On September 4, and again on September
20 our Post co-hosted the Small Business Program
and the Scholars and Honors Gala with the
Northern Virginia Post. On September 5-6, two of
our Post leaders, Al O’Konski (URS) and Marsha
Miller (Vanderweil Engineering) attended the SAME
Headquarters’ Post Leaders Workshop in Alexandria,
VA, and several of our Post Directors attended a welcome reception for the workshop participants
with SAME HQ staff. Wow! That’s a lot of activity!
September is National Preparedness Month
Hurricanes, political conventions & debates, and financial
market bailout have received recent attention.
Evacuations of New Orleans and Louisiana
due to Hurricane Gustav can be contrasted to evacuations
3 years ago due to Katrina. Hurricane Ike
caused severe damage this year. A change in preparedness
activities undertaken by the government,
individuals, and even Post readiness committees
can make a difference in our quality of life. As a society
with the values of Integrity, Patriotism, Public
Service, National Security, Technical Competence,
Excellence and Environmental Stewardship, I challenge
all of you to embrace one of these values
with the commitment to change for the better to
help the post or whatever interests you. I hope to
see you future post events.
Capt. Ben Pina, P.E., CEC, USN
NAVFAC Washington
President, Washington DC Post
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