Wrapping Party and Potluck

SWE Greatland gathered for our annual wrapping party and potluck this past Wednesday, December 8th. We sponsored 17 backpacks through the Anchorage Home Builders Association (AHBA) program. Our members had a lot of fun playing Santa's elves to give children in our community a bright Christmas. A huge thanks to Susie Gaulke for coordinating our participation again this year! Many thanks to the extra elves for bringing paper and their mad wrapping skills to lighten the load!

Tanya Hickok hard at work.

Sarah Stephens and Irene Sipin (mad skills!)

Irene Sipin, Devki White, and Jenny Cronlund

Our littlest elf - Jedrek Chmielowski

Sixth-Best Job in America? Yours

Money magazine's ranking of civil engineering as the sixth-best job in America was spotlighted in a recent CNN video. ASCE shared the good press with its members. And the best part? The engineer highlighted was a woman! Check out the article and video - http://www.asce.org/Content.aspx?id=12884902060.

Prison Tour

SWE Greatland members toured the Goose Creek Correctional Center on Thursday, September 23rd. The site is monstrous and has design details unlike any other project we've seen! Thanks to Clayton at Neeser for guiding us through (and back out of) the site safely! Here are a few highlights:

Networking cables in the Guard Tower

Back-up fuel tanks

We need more power!

One of two security fences.

Bunk beds, anyone?

Cells under construction

How Do You Define Success?

SWE's 60th year has been all about achieving (and celebrating) success on our own terms. Last week's update shared quotes about success from well-known men and women. But what does success mean to you?

Feedback Requested: Anchorage & Youth

SWE Greatland is requesting you to answer these few questions regarding the Anchorage community and it's involvement with today's youth. Please take a couple minutes to answer the following questions by leaving a comment.

What makes Anchorage great for youth?
What is needed to make our community better for youth?
What are we doing as individuals and as a group to contribute?
What can we do as individuals and as a group to contribute?

Thanks for your time and visit our SWE Greatland blog again soon!

FY09 End-of-Year Bar-B-Que

Another successful year down, SWE Greatland held their annual end-of-year bar-b-que on June 25th to celebrate all their hard work! Laura Strand was generous enough to host the event at her house and surprised us all with a wonderful spread of seasoned steak and chicken. We welcomed new faces and had about a dozen attendees. The weather held out for us and we enjoyed the sunshine with good company. We look forward to our summer break to gear up for new activities for FY10! Congratulations to our new FY10 SWE Greatland Board:

President - Melissa Mormilo
Vice President - Susie Gaulke
Secretary - Stephanie Mormilo
Treasurer - Maria Kampsen
Section Rep - LaQuita Chmielowski

AK Run for Women Port-a-Potty

It never fails...always seems to rain on us when it's time to decorate a port-a-potty for the run for women! Melissa, Stephanie, Susie, and Cindy still managed to put their decorating skills to the test and came up with a unique "job shack" theme port-a-potty. With cones, flags, hard hat, and toolboxes, we were able to accomplish the "construction site" vision. Every year the Alaska Run for Women requests local groups to sponsor a port-a-potty to be decorated and judged before the race. The winner receives the bedpan award! Although SWE Greatland has had the privelege of being the care taker of this bedpan in the past, we were no winner this year but we always have a good time! Check out our past port-a-potty decorating skills in our photo gallery.