Greetings!
I hope you all are enjoying summer and doing your part to keep your families and community safe. Seeing the economy rebound and life slowly come back to normal has been encouraging and I look forward to seeing you at one of our upcoming events!
As some of you have noticed, we have introduced a new logo. It colorfully captures the impressive built environment of our region and I would like to thank and acknowledge the designer, Josh Cavender. We have also completed the process of revising our chapter By-laws, which have been posted to the website. Thank you to Nathan Forrest for spearheading this effort.
Looking ahead, one of my goals for our Chapter in 2021 is to expand ACI’s impact and prominence among the thousands of local college students working towards careers in the concrete industry here in Southern California. I’m excited to announce that we have awarded three $2,500 scholarships to local students with the proceeds from our annual Howard Lux Scholarship Fund Golf Tournament in May. We will be publishing profiles next month to recognize the scholarship winners, Ms. Victoria Dam of USC, Mr. Matthew Jacobson of Cal Poly Pomona, and Mr. Kyle Hu of UCLA. I would like to congratulate them for their achievements and look forward to seeing them succeed in their professional careers.
With COVID-19 vaccination rates rising, our chapter’s leadership has decided it is time to resume in-person events with appropriate health and safety protocols. In partnership with the ACI Resource Center in San Bernardino, we are hosting an Open House next week on Thursday, September 16. Feel free to join anytime between 3 and 7pm to network and enjoy appetizers and cocktails – use this link to register. Students are also invited at a reduced price. The ACI International President, Cary Kopczynski, John Nehasil, Managing Director of Certification and John Conn, Director of Chapter Activities will be in attendance. Come and meet with them and your industry colleagues!
We are also currently working with ACI’s Engineering Director Matt Senecal, who is planning a technical presentation for the Chapter to be held in early October. We anticipate sending more information with details and registration information soon.
The ACI Southern California Chapter Concrete Awards is currently open for entries! The deadline to submit projects is Monday, September 13. For the Concrete Awards event this year, we are organizing a special dinner celebration at the brand new SoFi Stadium, so mark your calendars for the evening of Thursday, November 4. Sponsorships for the event are currently being accepted - click here to sponsor. Thank you to Heather Todak and others on the committee who are working hard to organize this event which will include dinner, cocktails, and raffles! Registration for the event will open soon.
Our programs committee is planning a few more events but is always open to suggestions from our members. If you would like to share ideas for 2022, please email programs@acisocal.org.
Lastly, the ACI Convention will be held in-person from October 17th thru 21st in Atlanta, Georgia. The deadline for the lower-priced registration is coming up on September 12th.
Chris Garcia
2021 Chapter President
