March April 2018

Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org 9 OrYSN Corner F ifty attendees who consider them- selves Young Surveyors met to celebrate the second anniversary of the Oregon Young Surveyors Network. There were new faces mixed in with members and supporters who have been around since the beginning. This years’ event was sponsored by Harper Houf Peterson and Righellis, Ferguson Land Surveying, and Quantum Spatial. The suc- cess of our meet-up wouldn’t have been possible without you. Thank you! We’ve always tried to give away prizes to our event attendees. Prizes ranged from hats and coffee mugs to tape mea- sures and hand levels. We don’t have a final count, but there were over 25 prizes donated by KR, PPI, and Frontier Preci- sion. For the second year in row, we have worked with Dick Hofland, of Hofland Monuments, to create a commemorative OrYSN brass cap and this year’s winner was Michelle McBride. Our meet-up was held at the local Sa- lem restaurant, Amadeus. The OrYSN chose the location because the restau- rant had a youthful vibe and it was a few blocks from the Salem Convention Cen- ter. What the OrYSN didn’t consider was the man the restaurant was named af- ter. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an Austrian composer, and, like the OrYSN members, Mozart found success at an early age. He composed over 600 works before his early death at the age of 35. There is where our paths part ways, be- cause even though the cutoff age to be considered a “young surveyor” is 35 (ee- rie, right?), we’re not planning on going away any time soon. The Network has seen growth and in- creased support locally and nationally over its short life. The OrYSN continues to hold monthly meetings and quarter- ly face-to-face meet-ups. Jason Martin volunteered to be our OrYSN Support- ing Member PLSO Board Liaison and we couldn’t think of a better person to rep- resent us on the Board. Members of the OrYSN are reaching out to local schools and Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs to spread the word about our amazing profession. We took part in PLSO’s rebranding campaign, and we’re excited about the new direction. One of our goals last year was to create a succession plan and install new offi- cers. We were successful in finding a few folks who were interested. Leo Litowich is our new Vice-Chair, and Nick LaFond is our Secretary. We have a couple of goals for 2018. Last year we bit off a lot, and this year will be simpler and easier to tackle: 1. Create a strategic plan. We need to create a solid foundation in which to continue to build the network. 2. Increase OrYSN outreach. We think we can help be the “face” of the PLSO at outreach events. We want to get kids excited and a good way to do this is to find young members to sell the message. Those who attend events, please contact us, we’d like to help. Lastly, we want to thank the supporting members who push us: Paul Landau, Pat Gaylord, Dave Williams, Jason Martin, Tim Kent, Brian Portwood, and Gary Anderson. And, we couldn’t do any of this without the outstanding support of our Executive Director, Aimee McAuliffe. Thank you for your support and encouragement.  x