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Young Water Professionals
A ROAD WELL-TRAVELLED Jo Greene – AWA YWP National Committee President It is with a mixture of sadness and excitement that I write this column. I have found myself at a junction in my life and the road I have chosen beckons me out of the water industry and on to complete my Post-Graduate Diploma of Education. This means I have resigned as AWA Young Water Professionals (YWP) National Committee President and, as such, this will be my last column for Water Journal. Unfortunately it also means that I won’t be attending Ozwater this year, much as I would have loved to. However, I am thrilled to be moving into the world of school teaching and look forward to the opportunity to share my knowledge with our up-and-coming young students. I know I will also share some of the great experience I have gained within the Australian water industry.
YWP OZWATER ACTIVITIES I have been fortunate to be a part of the YWP activities at Ozwater during the past three years and have been inspired by the energy and commitment of these young people. Of great note is the state YWP contribution to the YWP program each year where they run a YWP Breakfast and Workshop. I am confident that this year the Queensland contingent will live up to expectations, as they look to repeat what worked but find new and interesting ways to improve these popular events. At Ozwater each year, the YWPs on a national level provide volunteers to pack the delegate satchels and act as Assistant Chairs to every platform presentation. Over the past few years, the Assistant Chairs have attended a meeting each afternoon to provide their summary and thoughts of the sessions they have worked at. The NRC President, often in conjunction with
WAter April 2014
the YWP Chair from the host state, compiles these thoughts and ideas into a presentation that is carried out at the Ozwater Closing Ceremony. Sadly, due to time constraints there will be no YWP address at this year’s Closing Ceremony. However, in collaboration with the Queensland YWP Ozwater Committee I have been working towards ensuring that the great opportunity for the YWPs to connect with their water industry peers by speaking at this part of the event is not lost.
HEADING IN A NEW DIRECTION Recently there have been some concerns as to the purpose and direction of the YWPs, and particularly the NRC. The YWPs exist as a Specialist Network within the AWA, but are not a typical group. To their credit, each state is now running almost autonomously of the NRC and doing a great job running seminars, tours, mentoring programs and other events. But it seems the connection between the state YWP committees, the YWP National Representative Committee (NRC) and, in fact, AWA has become blurred. This is an opportunity for a fresh beginning for the YWPs and the NRC. I look forward to a new President taking the reins and leading this inspiring, clever and driven group of young people forward. The time I have spent being an active part of the AWA Young Water Professionals has been extremely rewarding and I have met some wonderful people along the way. As much as I am sad to close this chapter of my journey, I will stay in touch with the YWP National Representative Committee (NRC) and look forward to seeing the new direction the YWPs will take.