Dear Members,

It has been an honor to serve as your president for this 2024-2025 term and I want to use this final message to encourage you as a member or fan of SEAOSC to say "yes." I have found that volunteering or giving your time, energy, or resources to a cause beyond yourself is one of the great joys in life and certainly a great sense of satisfaction in our career as structural engineers.

At SEAOSC, we have many opportunities to say "yes" and I encourage you to ask yourself how you might be able to give some of your time to SEAOSC in the 2025-2026 year.

• Membership. If you are not a member, I encourage you to say "yes" to joining SEAOSC. If you aren't regularly participating in our events, I encourage you to find the events that meet your interests and say "yes" to giving your time to attend. Talk to your company about supporting these interests — they are likely to say "yes."

• Committees. Our committees are the foundation of SEAOSC and where the real work of advancing our profession happens. You have a place on a committee and I encourage you to find the committee that best fits your passion and your abilities and to say "yes" to joining a committee.

• Committee Chairs. Our committees only exist with leaders that have said "yes" to stepping into the committee chair position. Turnover of the leadership should happen more regularly, but many of our committees have been chaired by volunteers who faithfully say "yes" year-over-year. Our committee members have a place to serve as committee chairs and I encourage you to say "yes" to this next step in your participation.

• Mentorship. An amazing mentorship program has been underway at SEAOSC for several years now. Members that want some encouragement in career engagement, advancement, and satisfaction are finding that encouragement through the dedicated time of mentors. Say "yes" to being a mentor (get in touch at Mentorship@seaosc.org).

• Leadership. SEAOSC is run by the leaders in our profession that serve on our Board of Directors. Each of these leaders was asked by a nominating committee to give their time and talents in volunteer service. I am proud to serve alongside such dedicated volunteers that have all said "yes" to empowering our members and advancing the structural engineering profession by serving on the board.

This list is not exhaustive and there are many other opportunities within SEAOSC to say “yes.” Each "yes" comes with its sacrifice of time, energy, and resource, but gives back so much more in return. My "yes" to serving as your president has given me so many opportunities in networking, leadership and professional development, technical advancement, personal encouragement, sense of belonging, and friendship, and I am deeply grateful for your trust in me to serve as your President.

Sincerely,

Garrett Mills, SE | SEAOSC President 2024-2025