Student Chapters Stay Connected Remotely

With the COVID-19 pandemic cancelling so many events this spring and summer, ASCE student chapters across Texas had to scramble to restructure their semester plans. Learn more below from the Texas A&M, UT Tyler, and University of Houston ASCE Student Chapters about how they adapted their meetings virtually and what they’ve been working on this year.

Texas A&M Student Chapter Update

The Texas A&M Student Chapter has been forced to cancel many of their spring events that followed Spring Break including  their Freshman Aspiring to be Civil Engineers (FACE) program, the “Skeet-and-Eat” shotgun professional networking social, and their end of year picnic. Despite a tough finish to the semester, the officers of the Student Chapter decided to put on one final general meeting for their members on Zoom. They invited Texas A&M Former Students Tori Wittman and Jonathan Brower PE to speak to their membership via video conference on what it has been like working from home and to promote staying involved with ASCE after graduating.

Tori currently serves as the Texas A&M ASCE Student Chapter Practitioner Advisor, and she made it a point to remind the students that she is there to serve them locally along with the rest of the Brazos Branch. She shared her professional growth from staying involved with ASCE after college and encouraged the students to maintain the tightknit network they’ve created at their student chapter.

Jonathan shared his career path at L.A. Fuess Partners and showed off pictures of his desk at the office as well as his new work from home set up in his dining room. Jonathan then moved on to his journey through the various levels of the Texas A&M Student Chapter, the Dallas Branch, and the Texas Section. He explained the structure of ASCE from the local Branch and Student Chapter all the way up to the Region and Global level. He also shared the ASCE Texas Section’s vision statement with the students:

Texas civil engineers are leaders in their communities building a better quality of life across the street and around the world.

Jonathan encouraged the students to take action and continue to develop and grow as leaders, even in the midst of these uncertain times. A special thanks to Texas A&M Student Chapter President Johnathan Pressler for organizing this virtual meeting and keeping the pulse of ASCE alive on campus!

In addition to this virtual meeting, the Texas A&M ASCE Intramurals Officer, Luke Frei, wanted to find a way to do something sports related, and came up with the idea of having a NBA 2k20 basketball video game tournament. They gave it an Aggie-type title, and the 2020 BTHO Covid-19 Classic was born. The tournament had 8 participants, 4 from each major video game console, XBox and PlayStation, and the tournament was played out during the third week of April. They are proud of the success of the tournament, but we are hoping that this was the first and only annual BTHO Covid-19 Classic.

UT Tyler – Houston Student Chapter Update

The UT Tyler-Houston ASCE Student Chapter has been actively seeking ways to increase member participation with the coronavirus stay at home orders. The current ASCE officers have been keeping members updated with chapter newsletters and scholarship information. A technical session was hosted on Zoom to have a mini tutorial on the basic functions in Civil3D. This was to primarily help juniors prepare for their upcoming senior design classes. With just a few weeks left in the semester, the UT Tyler student chapter plans to host one or two more technical sessions on Civil3D and continue to provide support to its members.

University of Houston Student Chapter Update

The ASCE University of Houston (UH) Student Chapter has been staying active during the Coronavirus shutdown by hosting a virtual membership meeting during the month of April. The meeting was held to discuss chapter business, officer positions, and to check-in on the well-being of members. The ASCE UH leadership also wanted to support its members by sharing some additional services UH offers to its student, such as reimbursements, grading policy, and other resources.