Emerging with Leadership Skills from WEF Workshop at YP Summit

Michelle Hatcher, Student and Young Professional Committee chair, welcomes Water Environment Federation (Alexandria, Va.) young professionals to the Emerging Young Professionals Leadership workshop. Photo courtesy of Nashita Naureen.

Michelle Hatcher, Student and Young Professional Committee chair, welcomes Water Environment Federation (Alexandria, Va.) young professionals to the Emerging Young Professionals Leadership workshop. Photo courtesy of Nashita Naureen.

For more than a decade, the Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Va.) and American Water Works Association (Denver) have collaborated to organize the annual Young Professionals Summit, which was held Feb. 6–7 in Tampa, Fla. This year, WEF debuted the Emerging Young Professionals Leadership (EYPL) workshop in conjunction with the summit.

Vanessa Borkowski discusses how to identify and challenge unconscious bias in the workplace during the workshop. Photo courtesy of Alvin Pilobello.

Vanessa Borkowski discusses how to identify and challenge unconscious bias in the workplace during the workshop. Photo courtesy of Alvin Pilobello.

The workshop offered a forum for students and young professionals to sharpen their skills and set a path for success in the water sector. Attendees learned how to establish new student chapters, to implement community educational events at Member Association (MA) conferences, to plan events for young professionals, and to organize a career fair. An interactive presentation shared methods for being a productive member of a team and involved the audience in a discussion about how to create supportive environments and optimize performance.

Emerging Young Professionals Leadership workshop attendees have fun while networking. WEF photo/Caroline Pakenham.

Emerging Young Professionals Leadership workshop attendees have fun while networking. WEF photo/Caroline Pakenham.

“Many were teeming with excitement, inspired to bring fresh ideas and activities back home to their MAs and employers,” said Vanessa Borkowski, member of the WEF Students and Young Professionals Committee and Young Professionals Summit co-chair. Attendees took a brief break to film WEF’s first mannequin challenge. Read more about the workshop in Borkowski’s article, “Emerging Young Professionals Leadership Workshop.”

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