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Message from the Chapter President:
Candace Hladick, Chapter President, WTS Western North Carolina

Dear Members, Sponsors, and Colleagues,

As I entered my first year as your Chapter President for the Western North Carolina Chapter of WTS, our struggle with a global pandemic still weighed heavy on our community. Six months in, we find ourselves moving toward normal and I am noticing that our need, as a community, to meet in person to learn and socialize, has never been more relevant and important. We are all ready to move away from Zoom and back into the real world.

We should all be proud of our chapter's successes this year, particularly in our support to the young women in our community. Thanks to the ongoing generosity of our core members, board of directors, and chapter sponsors we were able to award three STEM-based summer camp scholarships this year! Advancing young women in STEM studies is key to advancing transportation and ensuring a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workforce.

I am happy to announce that we have events scheduled for July 21st and August 30th. Both events will provide opportunities for us to learn and network with friends and colleagues from across Western North Carolina. We are working hard to provide opportunities for continuing education credits (PDH/CM) for engineers and planners in our region.

The July 21st event will be held at the Asheville City Hall Training room. Traffic Planning and Design, Inc (TPD) will start us out with a presentation about their role in Asheville’s 2018 Charlotte Street Road Diet Project. Following the presentation, we will be offering lunch and networking before walking, biking, or carpooling to Charlotte Street for a walking tour. Mark your calendars and watch for event notices for this event and our August event over the next couple of weeks.

Speaking of emails. Our chapter email has been [email protected] for many years, but we have recently upgraded to a WTS International address [email protected] , please save this address so that you don’t miss any event announcements.

Thank you, members, for your continued participation and enthusiasm in our professional community, and sponsors for your incredible support. I would like to give a special shout-out of appreciation to our Chapter Board of Directors for their tireless work on behalf of WTS.

Wishing you all a successful 2021 and looking forward to seeing you in July.

Candace