Dear Post Members,

Ann Ewy, PMP, was recently awarded the Young Member Medal at this year's Joint Engineering Technical Conference in Grapevine, Texas. The award was well deserved for demonstrating unparalleled dedication and commitment to the Society of American Military Engineers continuously since her introduction to the society nine years ago. Ms. Ewy is heavily engaged in S.A.M.E. at both the local and national level and has given countless hours of her time and energy to this organization. She has helped multiple young members of her local Post expand their roles in S.A.M.E. by mentoring and demonstrating through her own actions the value one can recognize through involvement.

This year's Annual Vice President's Dinner was held on April 14, 2011 at Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Chiefs.  Traditionally, the Vice President's Dinner event has been held in appreciation of the contributions made by sustaining and individual members over the past year, and this year was no exception.  More than 70 guests enjoyed an evening of dinner, drinks and networking, as well as a special appearance by the world-famous NFL Mascot, KC Wolf.   Throughout the evening, a slide show was displayed on large screens throughout the facility featuring pictures of the Post's activities and accomplishments over the last 80 years.  Attendees were presented with our new 80^th anniversary coin, as well as pilsner glasses engraved with the SAME logo.  The committee also held a raffle of various prizes, including Royals tickets, concert tickets, race tickets, gift cards and a Chiefs package.

The event raised $4,500 that will help fund the Greater Kansas City Post's Education and Mentoring program, which contributes to the development of future design and construction professionals.  The Post would like to thank our annual sponsors whose financial support made the event possible:  JE Dunn, HNTB, Louis Berger, Terracon, Wilson & Company, Burns & McDonnell, SAIC, Coastal and Black & Veatch.  A special thanks, as well, to the VP Dinner Planning Committee for their hard work and dedication to making the event a success.

VP Dinner Planning Committee:

Amy Lines - Kleinfelder

Melissa Kelley - Shafer, Kline & Warren

Ann Ewy, PMP - USACE, KC District

Matt Metcalf - Tug Hill Construction

The Kansas City Post was well represented at the SAME Joint Engineering and Training Conference in Grapevine, Texas. The Post contingent included young members Jim Feikert (Henderson Engineers) and Melissa Kelley (Shafer, Kline & Warren). Feikert and Kelley were both honored by SAME HQ for their Post involvement with young member stipends to attend JETC. SAME HQ awarded 43 stipends to young members throughout the country who had exceptional contributions and involvement at the Post level.  The primary purpose is to expose and educate the next generation of leadership throughout the organization. "We are proud to have two of our members honored with this award. Feikert and Kelley are dedicated and involved members who are future leaders in this Post," said Post President, Chris Prinslow.

There were many events at JETC that the young member representatives took advantage of, including a networking event for young members, NCOs and fellows geared toward leadership development and the society ball.  Feikert and Kelley found the breakout sessions to be extremely relevant and the exhibit hall was constantly busy and provided a great networking venue.

"Hands down one of the best conferences I have been to while also maximizing fun through after-hours events and activities. It was an honor for me to represent my Post as a young member," said Feikert.  

"I left the event feeling a greater appreciation for how my efforts, as well as those of everyone else in my Post, contribute to the national mission of SAME," said Kelley.

The Greater Kansas City Post held the 4^th Annual After Hours Networking Event successfully on  May 5, 2011 at the Boulevard Brewery.   The evening brought 140 attendees including small and large business and government together for an enjoyable evening overlooking downtown Kansas City.  The networking was full of activity exchanging business cards, eating good food, tasting Boulevard Brewery's own specialty line of cold beverages, and building relationships!

This year the event opened opportunities for small businesses and new SAME members to exhibit posters about their company at no charge.  A perfect, well attended setting for visibility of our Post, small business members and introduction about our new members.  It is such a good idea; we are going to do this again next year with more emphasis, so small businesses be prepared to show off your capabilities!

We cannot bring our members and local small business community an outstanding, annual social networking event without sponsorships. We greatly appreciate and thank our sponsors and door prize sponsors for making this event another terrific networking opportunity to bring government and industry together! 

Thank you to Burns & McDonnell, HNTB, Coastal, Louis Berger Group, Terracon, JE Dunn Construction, SAIC, Wilson & Company, and Black & Veatch.  Thank you to our Door Prize sponsors: HMN Architects, Jackie Hacker and Associates, All World Languages & Cultures, Inc., J.M. Neil & Associates, and PSI USA.

Forty years ago, the Greater KC Post reached its 40^th year.  Today, we double that mark by celebrating our 80^th anniversary!  Back in 1971, the Greater KC Post was led by Post President, COL William N. Doyle who was the Commander for the US Army Corps of Engineers, KC District.  One of the projects overseen by COL Doyle was Melvern Lake south of Topeka, KS on the Marais des Cygnes River.  The multipurpose pool for Melvern Lake now provides flood damage reduction, is used to supply water for several local communities, has many recreational uses and provides conservation to fish and wildlife. 

 Since Melvern Lake was commissioned by the KC District in the 70s, the Greater KC Post has been very busy.  We have installed 40 new presidents and boards of direction, honored our military hundreds of times, hosted three SAME National conferences, provided well over $100,000 in scholarships to high school and college students, toured dozens of projects, educated scores of EIT's studying for their Professional Engineer's certification, incorporated the Society's first Field Chapter at Fort Riley, assisted in the construction of Habitat for Humanity homes, sent care packages to our soldiers overseas, assisted high school kids with MATHCOUNTS, supported several readiness exercises, adopted Hickman Mills High School and supported the construction/rehabilitation of a wetland ecological area at the school, published dozens of newsletters, assisted many small businesses to obtain work in the federal market, honored outstanding local teachers, started student posts at KU and UMKC, sponsored young scientists and engineers to attend SAME summer camps and fostered hundreds of friendships.  To accomplish this, many men and women of the Greater KC Post have volunteered tens of thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars.  What a proud heritage from only half of our years of service!

Over the past four decades, many things have changed, but Melvern reservoir continues to contribute to the regional water resources and the environment, and the Greater KC Post continues to be a vibrant post serving our nation from the heartland.

USACE Design & Construction in a Contingency Environment: Afghanistan Challenge