FWEA CH A P TE R CO R N E R Welcome to the FWEA Chapter Corner! The Member Relations Committee of the Florida Water EnvironmentvAssociation hosts this article to celebrate the success of recent association chapter activities and inform members of upcoming events. To have information included for your chapter, send details to Melody Gonzalez at gonzalezm@bv.com.
Melody Gonzalez
FWEA Leadership Workshop 2022: True Leaders in the Making
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Ifetayo Venner, current WEF president-elect, introduces herself to the crowd.
Group photo of the FWEA committee and chapter leaders.
44 April 2022 • Florida Water Resources Journal
Melody Gonzalez
n a gorgeous weekend in February on beautiful Daytona Beach, the FWEA leaders from every corner of the state of Florida got together for a twoday workshop. This meeting is held every year around the same time, with the goal of learning about the organization, sharing information, training the new incoming chairs, and finding solutions to common challenges. Due to the pandemic, however, an inperson meeting in 2021 was simply not possible. Many of these leaders haven’t seen each other for more than two years; therefore, the friendly atmosphere was almost palpable. The workshop started with a review of the previous year’s status of the organization, which can be summarized in one word: Strong! Throughout the pandemic, chapter and committee members alike faced the multiple challenges of uncertainty and social distancing. In a constant struggle to keep our organization’s mission alive, every chapter and committee quickly adapted to its local situation and adjusted its activities to be able to serve our members and community in the best possible way. This year the organization was able to enjoy the presence of Ifetayo Venner, the president-elect of our parent organization, the Water Environment Federation (WEF). Ifetayo shared with our local leaders national strategies and also gave a very detailed overview of the organizational chart and the several layers of committees, groups, and subgroups under WEF’s umbrella. On day two, our leaders focused on working on the strategy plans for the upcoming year. With our mission and vision in mind, each chapter and committee made a commitment to create a route map that will guide our activities during the next year.
