by Nikita Patel, PE, AYP Liaison to the Board of Directors and AYP Committee Chair
Hello ASPE friends! I’m happy to share an update from the ASPE Young Professionals (AYP) Committee with all of you as the Committee Chair and AYP Liaison to ASPE’s Board of Directors. The AYP Committee has gone through several rounds of leadership since I became a member, and I’m very lucky to follow in their footsteps.
This committee, with support from Brian Henry, ASPE’s Sr. Director of Affiliate Relations & Education, has one major goal in mind: to provide assistance with recruiting, onboarding, and retaining AYPs. That assistance comes in three stages, shown below.
Major responsibilities for the National Liaison include communicating with AYP members and providing collective input to the Board, offering input for the Convention and Tech Symposium, organizing the biennial AYP Leadership Academy and other networking events, and assisting the Region and Chapter AYP Liaisons in any way possible.
Major responsibilities for the Region Liaisons include communicating with AYP members and providing input to the National Liaison, organizing regional webinars to promote networking and education within the Region, attending monthly Region meetings, and assisting the Chapter Liaisons as needed.
Major responsibilities for the Chapter Liaisons are endless! This is arguably the most difficult role in our AYP triangle. The Chapter Liaisons remain in constant communication with their local AYP members, encourage them to attend meetings, and utilize other available ASPE resources. This person organizes local events to promote networking and collaboration among peers. They solicit sponsorships for events and provide their feedback to the Region Liaison.
I’m lucky to have five exceptional Region AYP Liaisons and many Chapter AYP Liaisons working with me to promote this organization for those in our special-interest group (ASPE members who are 35 years old or younger).
Our meeting at the 2023 Tech Symposium in Bellevue, Washington was so well attended, we walked away with many goals. A few of them were simple, such as creating a defined set of instructions for how to set up an event. Others were not so much. On December 1, we held a continuation of our Bellevue meeting, engaging in a half-hour roundtable discussion. We had only one goal in mind: Identify as many ways AYP can collaborate with educational institutions as possible. Here are a few thoughts:
- Establish a Chapter-based student mentorship program.
- Goal: Work with local colleges and universities to set up mentorships with students in an engineering curriculum. Mentors can assist with interviewing skills, resume writing, selecting courses, and much more!
- Establish an online resume workshop program.
- Goal: Generate a platform for engineering students from all around to submit a resume for review. Maybe students can submit a resume and expect a two-week turnaround, or maybe they can set up a one-on-one meeting with an AYP for a more immediate response. The possibilities are endless.
- Establish a connection with local public/trade schools.
- Goal: Engage with students about the possibility of a career in plumbing or plumbing engineering from a young age, making sure they understand the benefits of all career options in this industry.
We have a few more, but you’ll have to join the committee or attend a meeting to learn more.
I’m sure if you’ve read this far, you’re wondering how you can join this committee full of fun, young ASPE members. Have no fear, it’s a quick and easy process. Simply click this link, answer a few questions, and your application will be sent through the process for approval. We’re happy to announce our approval rate is 100 percent, and we don’t want to break that streak (so your chances of making the cut are extremely high).
Why else should you join? Here are my top three reasons:
- We are paving the way to grow ASPE for years to come.
- Our meetings are collaborative, brief, and to the point.
- You’ve got opinions, and maybe they are different from what you’ve read here.
If you’re not quite sold, I encourage you to attend our next AYP Committee meeting in mid-February. Let me ([email protected]) or Brian Henry ([email protected]) know that you’d like to attend, and we’ll make sure you receive an invitation.
Stay warm!
