Page 17 - ESS July 2023

dinner reception and networking with NSPS directors and meeting
attendees, followed by an evening playing trivia and corn hole. An
offsite outing with the Young Professionals followed Thursday’s
competition, and we all enjoyed networking and congratulating the
students at the awards luncheon on Friday. Check out the April
article “In the News” on the Alfred State College website and join
me in congratulating the teams for a job well done! (See Katherine
O’Buckley’s report on page 16)

Back to the meeting…while the students were participating in the
monument hunt around Washington DC on Wednesday, we were
conducting committee meetings and Regional Council meetings.
Eleven committee meetings and four Regional meetings were held
throughout the day. The CST Board held a question and answer
session with Army Corp. of Engineers, who is looking to utilize the
CST to ensure competencies in their employees, and potentially
their subcontractors in the future. The Workforce Development
Committee, led by Tim Murphy from Illinois, continues to be one
of our most active and energetic committees. Resources developed by
the committee have been shared with our Workforce Development
committee and we look forward to establishing close collaboration
between our State and National workforce development committees.
The NSPS Government Affairs committee, led by Past President
Mark Sargent from New Hampshire and supported by above
mentioned Lobbyist John (JB) Byrd, provides a substantial amount
Alfred Students at awards luncheon Spring NSPS Meeting 2023 of information on the NSPS website under the “Advocacy” tab.
your legislators where they work in Washington DC, Whether you want to find a position paper for use when visiting your
but don’t forget to follow up at their home offices. The legislator at his/her local office, join the NSPS Political and Legislative
same is true for your State legislators; they want to hear Alert Team (PLAT), or read the latest comprehensive report on
from us and they can only support our legislative efforts legislative efforts, you will find it on the website; just be sure to log in
if they know who we are and what we need. Rick and I to have access to all documents. The last committee I will report on
were pleased to meet with representatives from the offices in this article is the Certified Floodplain Surveyor Committee. The
of Marc Molinaro, Charles (Chuck) Schumer, Kirsten NSPS Board of Directors approved the establishment of the Certified
Gillibrand, and we personally met with and had a photo Floodplain Surveyors Board to interact directly with FEMA at the
opportunity with Pat Ryan. Fall 2022 meeting in Tulsa. Our committee meeting consisted of
reviewing the Board’s responsibilities, charges, and composition. Also
The student competition is thriving and has grown from
eleven teams in 2022 to twenty-four teams in 2024. Alfred discussed were the training held in Massachusetts which was so well
State College was very well represented with two teams: received that MALSCE is planning a second training course this Fall.
the participating students competing in the two-day event There are also procedures being developed to institute a “Train the
were Nicholas Bianchi (Rochester, NY), James Carman Trainer” program as the number of participating States increases with
(Geneseo, NY), Justin Kachurak (Mountain Top, PA), a limited number of current qualified trainers. Any State interested
Benjamin Kingsley (Chittenango, NY), William Kotwica should identify a trainee so the level of interest in such a program can
(Verona, NY), Matthew Stewart (Cameron, NY), Matthew be determined. Additional information on the program can be found
Stungis (Neversink, NY), and Noah Wolf (Whitney on the NSPS website under the “Programs” tab.
Point, NY). New York was also well represented by our Overall, the meeting was well attended and an overall success. I
Young Surveyors who were assigned to various schools to am proud to to represent New York as your NSPS Director and
interact with the students. NSPS welcomed the students look forward to providing additional updates in future issues
and their mentors with a wonderful reception Tuesday of the Empire State Surveyor. In the meantime, be sure to read
evening which included hands on assistance learning to NSPS’ News and Views for weekly updates and visit the website
operate the antique survey equipment on display. The for additional resources and member benefits.
first day of competition on Wednesday ended with a

EMPIRE STATE SURVEYOR / VOL. 59 • NO 4/ 2023 • JULY/AUGUST 15