Penn State Students Attend Second Annual National Future Safety Leaders Conference
November 18, 2006
On November 2-4, 2006, four Penn State student members of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) attended the 2nd Annual National Future Safety Leaders conference in St. Louis, Missouri. ASSE is the oldest and largest professional safety society and currently has over 30,000 members.
Returning members from last year, Jere Pallis and Bob Pullampally, were accompanied by Alex Pawlowski and Catherine Hegarty. These Penn State students, along with 126 other student members attended the conference to gain professional insight on current health and safety issues. The knowledge gained could be used prior to graduation in their student sections, and also after graduation in becoming a professional.
Various industry professionals including Darryl Hill and Mike Murray held panel discussions and conducted breakout sessions with the students. The student members also participated in tours of various local industries and had the opportunity to participate in mock interviews. The Student Section Ideas explosion breakout allowed for members to share what their sections are doing on such issues as membership, fundraising, and the ever important Outstanding Student Section Project Award. At the end of the conference's first day, student members attended a networking dinner. The next day the conference concluded with a game of Who Wants to be a Safety Millionaire and a panel discussion covering many aspects from construction to petroleum.
After attending the conference for the first time and as a new student to the safety profession, Catherine Hegarty said "the conference was a wonderful opportunity for me and certainly sparked an even greater interest in the safety profession as well as introduced me to the many other areas health and safety has to offer."