SHPE - Fall 2007 - (Page 36) REGIONAL CONFERENCES ment, emotional intelligence, SHPE 101 and AHETEMS. A favorite among attendees was “When Life Hands You Aguacates, Make Guacamole,” by Lockheed Martin’s Manny Sanchez. The session offered advice on growing through difficult situations by mitigating risk, forming alliances, developing “win-win” situations and integrating lessons learned to be more productive and marketable. According to Antonio Ortiz, a chemical engineering sophomore and outgoing chapter vice president at Ventura Community College, the ideas presented during “Transition in Your Organization’s Leadership” made the trip to RLDC worthwhile. “It was very informative,” he said. “I wish I had attended a seminar like this before becoming vice president. I never thought about ‘grooming’ the future leaders of our club.” No doubt that will be one of his goals as the chapter’s new historian. RLDC offered various opportunities for students to informally network with professional members. “The whole reason for having RLDC was for them to gain leadership skills as well as networking and communication skills,” said chairman Carlos Castellon. “Hopefully they gained that as they worked on the case studies with students from different schools and as they networked with professionals.” RLDC’s banquet came to a memorable close and offered a unique networking opportunity as SHPE National President Diana Gomez bestowed honorary lifetime membership upon four of SHPE’s founding fathers. After the ceremony, many chapter members took photos and shook hands with SHPE’s founding fathers to express their appreciation. “I witnessed the glaze in their eyes from the emotions in the room,” said Serafin Fernandez, SHPE-LA president. “They were impressed with the conference and glad to see how SHPE had survived and come so far in 33 years.” Roman Diaz, past SHPE-SD president, enjoyed talking with founder Rodrigo Garcia about the challenges of running a successful organization. “We are always trying to push to make the world a better place, but we are human too,” Diaz said. “Knowing that others also deal with the grind encourages you to take this with the territory and understand that it soon will pass.” He added, “Taking the time to talk, think about and practice As host for the second consecutive year, SHPE-UNR provided workshops on leadership and personal development for RLDC I. the conference gave her chapter’s members a different perspective on leadership and motivated them to become part of the board next year. “A lot of students had never been to a SHPE conference,” said Murillo. “So this gave them a great opportunity to learn about SHPE, how to apply for AHETEMS funds and how to handle the challenges faced by executive board members.” She continued, “The conference helped a lot of students realize SHPE’s importance and how much work it involves, but also that it’s worth the work. It was good training for NILA.” REGION II ‘Soaring to Your Horizon of Potential Excellence’ California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, was the site for RLDC in Region II. Drawing 108 students from 24 chapters and 22 professionals primarily from the Los Angeles area, this year’s conference reverted back to its traditional format centered on the preparation of case studies. For each of the four topics – outreach, membership retention, fundraising and maintaining chapter image – the groups were charged with creating programs that would meet specific goals. First-time attendee and a part of the fundraising team, 36 Moises Peralta, a mechanical engineering sophomore from the University of California, San Diego, enjoyed working with members from other chapters. He also left the conference eager to implement new fundraising techniques. “RLDC made me a better leader because now I’m aware of things and have so many ideas to improve the chapter,” he said. The case study on outreach came in first place for its proposal to establish weekly session with at-risk students. The session’s time would be equally divided between math and science tutoring and engineering discovery through handson projects. The conference also included workshops on time manage- Professional members drew inspiration and encouragement from SHPE’s founding fathers, who were honored during RLDC II. SHPE’s founders (seated left to right) Andres Santamaria, Alex Vidaurrazga, Rodrigo Garcia and Americo Garza. SHPE R Fall 2007
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