APEGNB Saint John branch had an eventful 2019 of giving back to the community as well as creating common platforms for our members to connect and thrive. Our committed volunteers have been dedicating their time, energy, and resources in bringing the essence of engineering and geoscience closer to the communities in Saint John, Kennebecasis valley, Sussex, Hampton, Saint-Andrews, Saint Stephens and other areas of southern New Brunswick. I sincerely thank all the volunteers and councilor members for their constant contributions.
One of the most cherished community involvement from the Saint John branch is the school out-reach program. This year, this initiative covered a total of 42 presentations, in front of 1551 grades 6-12 students, from 16 different schools, between the areas from Saint Stephen to Sussex, NB. An army of 52 engineers and EITs graciously dedicated their time for this mega project to to become.
Among other community involvement events, the “Annual Saint John Soap-box Derby” (held on May 25, 2019) has a big out-reach to the Saint John community. APEGNB Saint John branch is involved in this event as one of the title sponsors, and many of our members volunteer in different capacities to make this fundraising event successful in support of PALS in the Park. In this year’s derby, Caiden Beam secured the first place in the Stock Division with the car sponsored by the APEGNB Saint John.
APEGNB Saint John branch is also deeply invested in facilitating various opportunities for the engineering student community from UNB Saint John campus. Our branch sponsored engineering students from UNB Saint John to participate at the “Atlantic Engineering Competition” in Halifax, NS from January 24-27, 2019. Also, this year for the first time, our branch sponsored eight engineering students from UNB Saint John campus to participate at the ACES Engineering Leadership Summit in April, 2019. APEGNB Saint John branch members volunteered as subject matter expert speakers for different engineering streams at the UNBSJ E-night event on November 28, 2018.
For the members and members-in-training, APEGNB Saint John branch has facilitated and organized numerous events to promote connection among fellow members and members-in-training. These events are designed to cover the spectrum of both social association and technical acumen for the members and members-in-training.
On February 16, 2019 our branch hosted a curling event for the members and members-in-training at the Thistle St. Andrew’s curling club. A super-fun event, this has brought immense joy among those who were able to join.
APEGNB Saint John branch sponsored a hockey team of fellow engineers at the Atlantic Engineering Hockey Tournament on April 5-6, 2019 in Moncton, NB. Our team competed with 19 other teams from the Atlantic Provinces, and reached the tournament finals! APEGNB Saint John branch congratulate the players and everyone involved with the team for their amazing achievement.
For the young and young-at-heart, APEGNB Saint John branch has hosted the 4th Annual Young Professional Night on the evening of June 22, 2019. With a participation of more than 50, this Saint John uptown event created some wonderful atmosphere of networking for the attendees.
A technical tour of the newly built Saint John water treatment plant is under preparation for summer. The goal of this tour will be to enlighten the attendees about this newly built, high-tech, water treatment plant; which should provide adequate drinking water supply, meeting the national standard, for the residents of the city of Saint John.
Preparation for a golf tournament, jointly hosted with APEGNB Fredericton branch has been completed and is scheduled to take place in the fall of 2019.
Overall, this has been an exciting year at the APEGNB Saint John branch. We look forward to the coming days of opportunities to promote engineering and geoscience to the communities of southern New Brunswick.