Amy Hopkins - President's Message

Message from the President

As I step into the Presidency a few months early, I am reminded how

essential our Society is to the success and future of our profession. These are unprecedented times, to say the least. The Board of Directors and our various committees have adapted quickly, holding virtual meetings thru GoToMeeting, Zoom, and Teams. If time or travel had been your reason for not getting more involved, then now is the time to join a committee or become a State Director for your Chapter.

The Public Relations Committee is looking for members to help get the message out to government officials, both State and Local. The Executive Committee fought hard during the initial shutdown to make officials stand up and take notice of our profession and how essential we are to the engineering community and the economy. Our efforts were rewarded with Surveyors being added to the first group of professionals deemed essential and to return to work. We need to keep the momentum going and elevate our profession to the point where Land Surveyors are a well-known and respected profession and kids say, “When I grow up, I want to be a Surveyor.”

Membership is the key to the success of our Society. I challenge each member to reach out to one other surveyor who is not a member of PSLS and encourage them to join. We’ve all run into other

surveyors at township meetings or called them to get a copy of a survey. This is the perfect time to ask if they are a member and encourage them to join. All Surveyors should have a voice and we’re much stronger together.

I am honored to be the first woman president of PSLS and I hope to encourage other women to get involved. Of our 750 members, only 32 are women. Please encourage the women, if any, at your offices to join. I was fortunate to participate in the first ever Women Surveyors Summit in Austin, Texas last August. The pandemic forced us to cancel this year’s summit in Virginia. I’m scheduled to host the Summit here in Pennsylvania in 2023, and I’d like to double our female membership before

we host the event.

Amy Hopkins, PLS PSLS President