June 13^th, 2002

Chair
Kim Farwell, P. Eng.

Past Chair
Mitch Azmier, P. Eng.

Vice Chair/Secretary
Anne Simpson, P. Eng.

Treasurer
Jacob Oommachan, P. Eng.

Outreach Coordinator
Mike Anderson, P. Eng.

Members-at-large
Irfan Ahmad, M.I.T.
Josef Amalraj, P.Eng.
Christophe Durieu, P. Eng.
Rattan Garcha, P. Eng.
John Huntley, P.Eng.
Louise Michaud, P. Eng.
Prakash Mullick, P. Eng.
Vic Saari, P.Eng.
Mike Sneath, P. Eng.

Branch Activities

Planning Session

The Branch held its annual planning session on April 17^th, 2002. In this meeting we agreed to change our start time and our venue. We set the meeting dates for the 2002/2003 period. The executive brainstormed events to hold and a tentative schedule and budget were determined.

Our planning session focussed on the goal set last year to increase our communication with the members and non-members in the region. We have scheduled more activities this year, because a more diverse group of activities will likely attract a larger proportion of our members. Our proposed "member outreach" activities include: Social Night, Quiz Night (at a local bar), "Mini Junkyard Wars" Design Competition, Mentoring Night, Golf Tournament, Wine Tasting and the Trade Show Booth. We are also maintaining our quarterly newsletter.

May Executive Meeting

At the May meeting we further discussed our budget. We identified that we would require an additional $2500 to achieve the activities we have planned. We discussed where and how we could save money and still run the events. One proposal is to reduce the number of mailers we send to four per year (the newsletters) and do all other correspondence by email. However, we know that APEGGA head office has only a limited number of email addresses for the Fort McMurray members. Our goal was to make personal contact with the members to get their addresses. We recognize that a reduction in mailers does not directly affect our operating budget, but we hoped our effort would be rewarded by passing some of the savings onto the branch, so we can achieve the level of activity we have proposed.

Teachers’ Award

Our Teachers’ Award winner is Jill Agnew. Jill teaches grade 10 science and grade 11 chemistry and physics. She teaches at Westwood Community High School. An awards dinner will be set up for her

Alberta Science Festival

The Fort McMurray APEGGA branch participated in the Science Olympics as judges and in the Science and Technology Showcase with a booth supplied by head office. We borrowed a Van de Graff generator and other gadgets. We drew names of six participants to receive APEGGA mouse pads.