Katie Reams Receives WEAU Outstanding Young Professional Award

At the 2024 WEAU Annual Conference in St. George, Katie Reams was honored as the 2023 Outstanding Young Professional of the Year for her exemplary service to WEAU and Young Professionals. Nominated by her J-U-B team and interviewed by the WEAU Awards Committee, Katie’s recognition highlights her impactful contributions to the wastewater industry and her role as a mentor. She serves on the J-U-B Corporate Young Professionals Committee, advocates for progressive change, and is an active board member for Women of Water. As the YP Co-Chair, she revived the WEAU Young Professionals group post-pandemic and volunteers as an editor for Digested News. Congratulations to Katie for her well-deserved award and for bringing recognition to J-U-B!

Lauren Schmidt Leads Young Professionals to Success in WEAU Operations Challenge

Lauren and her fellow WEAU Young Professionals (Michael Callison, Josh Matson, Meagan O’Hare, and Nate Rogers) formed a team for the WEAU Operations Challenge, a competition showcasing excellence in wastewater treatment through five timed events: safety, laboratory, collections, maintenance, and process control. Despite being the only team without operators, they practiced from January to April and placed 2nd in the Process Control event. This experience highlighted the crucial role of professional operators in the industry, emphasizing that the most advanced wastewater treatment plants require skilled operators to run effectively.

Danika Montgomery Wins the State of Utah’s UGIC Iron Cartographer Trophy

Congratulations to Danika Montgomery for winning the State of Utah’s UGIC Iron Cartographer Trophy! At the annual UGIC conference, two participants, chosen by the UGIC board, compete to create the best map using identical raw GIS data and specific requirements. Starting at 8:30 AM, they have until noon to complete a full-size display map while a moderator discusses their techniques and asks spontaneous questions in front of an audience. The finished maps are then printed and voted on by conference attendees.