PLSO Oregon Surveyor Vol. 40 No. 6

Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org 27 OrYSN I t’s hard to believe that another year has passed! I can confidently say that this has been a very productive year for the OrYSN. From holding monthly business meetings to attending multiple college surveying pro- grams’ get-togethers, the OrYSN has been busy. We currently have 72 members and are the second largest group in the country! Since October 2016, the OrYSN has been holdingmonthly businessmeetings viaphone conference and GoToMeeting. A core group of approximately six members discusses membership, upcoming events, andoutreach opportunities, among many other topics, on a regular basis. A byproduct of this core group is a greater sense of community and willingness to reach out not only on OrYSN topics, but also professional and technical topics regarding current work. One outcome of these meetings has been the adoption of the OrYSN logo! We have met several times in 2017 within our group, with student chapters, and with other young professionals. January start- ed off with a bang at the PLSO Conference in Portland. We held our inaugural meet- up event, and it was a huge success! There were over 65 attendees that showed up and supported our cause. Five OrYSNmembers travelled to Corvallis in February to attend a meeting of the Oregon State University PLSO Student Chapter. We shared what the OrYSN is all about and how the students could get involved. In conjunction with the April BoD meeting in Klamath Falls, PLSO members met with students at OIT and shared an evening of food and conversa- tion. Also in April, the OrYSN held a joint meet-up event with the American Society for PhotogrammetryandRemoteSensing (ASPRS) and the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (ORURISA) at the same time as the PSU GIS in Action Conference. There were roughly 35 people in attendance, mostly GIS Professionals. It turned out to be a great chance for the OrYSN members in attendance to share how land surveying can benefit their work. We hope to team up with them again in the future. In August we held a secondmeet-up event in Portland; 14 members were in attendance, and we had a successful evening of networking and get- ting to know each other better. We have also been busy getting to national meetings throughout the year and represent- ing the OrYSN. The Surveying and Geomatics Educators Society (SaGES) held their biannu- al meeting at OSU in late July. Chris Glantz and I presented to higher education instruc- tors fromacross the country on the YSN and specifically discussed the OrYSN as a case study. In September, Chris and I headed to Texas for the NSPS Fall Meeting where 13 states were represented by their respective YSN leaders. Themeetings entailed a couple of days of networking, listening to success stories for YSN groups across the country (where I got to present on behalf of the suc- cesses in Oregon!) and discussing the goals for next year. In 2018, the NSPS YSN is go- ing to focus on communication within the surveying community and look at regional network groups for YSN communities. I’mexcited about wherewe are going in 2018. We have a leadership group that is enthused and ready to take on the year ahead. Chris Glantz will be taking on the role of Committee Chair, again. He is also leading the NSPS YSN in 2018. We are lucky to have him as a lo- cal resource! Leo Litowich will be our Vice Chair in 2018 and will take on the role of Chair in 2019. Leo has been very active with our group this year and is passionate about the surveying profession. Nick LaFond will be stepping into the Secretary role. Nick re- cently joined our group and we are looking forward to working with him more. Once again, there will be a meet-up event coin- ciding with the 2018 conference in Salem. We are working to secure a venue now, so please stay tuned and join us in January! Lastly, I’d like to recognize all of the support we’ve had over the past year. We are only a success because of the abundant support we receive from all of you. I’d like to thank the PLSO, especially the Board of Directors and Aimee; you have given us the freedom to grow as we see fit. Thank you to all of our sponsors who have supported our meet-up events in 2017: Clark College, Hofland Survey Monuments, the PPI Group, the BLM, David Evans and Associates, Inc., TRV Surveying, Ryan Godsey and Vince Logan. Your assis- tance has prevented us from going hungry or thirsty while networking and talking about the future of the OrYSN. I hope everyone has a safe, festive and fruit- ful holiday season! As always, feel free to reach out if there are any questions, concerns, or if you would like to get involved: oregon.ysn@gmail.com. See you at the conference in Salem in January! Casey Varnum amongst ASPRS and ORURISA young professionals at the GIS in Action Day get together. NSPS YSN State and National Representatives in Frisco, TX. We are only a success because of the abundant support we receive from all of you.