This year, Haynes Whaley Associates received the Member Firm of the Year award for its commitment to marketing excellence, as well as long-time dedication to SMPS Houston through sponsorships, volunteerism, and continuing education speakers.

Derick Thompson, Haynes Whaley engineer and business developer, received the Rising Star award for his dedication to the chapter very early in his SMPS membership — for participation as a leader engaged in organizing member events and for his consistent contributions on the Programs and Membership committees. Congratulations, Derick!

Left to right: Derick Thompson, Amy Moen, Kim Baker, Myra Sides, Award Presenter Kay Lentz, Larry Whaley

After one week of internship, I have made a dive headlong into a highly interactive experience and met a lot of smart people. I am particularly surprised to see that so much work goes on outside of the normal design work.

Beginning with marketing, the busy and seemingly unpredictable schedules of Derick, Larry, and Amy have showed me how important marketing and public relations are to the company’s success. After shadowing Derick and meeting with Amy, it has been interesting to see these people scramble to meet deadlines, build relationships, and put together important presentations.

Meeting with Virginia and Robert has exposed me to the day to day operations that must exist to keep this office running smoothly.

Throughout the week I met several engineers, however my meetings with Wally and Marco were special highlights. I was exposed to the “art” of structural engineering and some of the tools that help make it come together: AutoCAD and RISA.

After meeting with all of these engineers, I have learned that the common denominator to good engineering practice is experience. The intuition that goes with the development and design of a building’s structure seems to require a lot of experience and knowledge of codes and standards.

I have learned a lot from everybody, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I would be learning about public relations and office management in addition to just engineering. Together, it seems like Haynes Whaley has their business running like a well oiled and well “engineered” machine and it really is a special experience to be a part of the office; I am eager to learn more from them over the next two weeks.

I arrive at 8:30 each morning and start reading engineering magazines or textbooks, or glance over old plans and see if they made any more sense today than they did yesterday. The plans are a lot like puzzles, each day I learn another thing about Engineering, which is like finding another piece of the puzzle, and the plans make more sense. It’s a thoroughly gratifying process.

At some point Derick pokes his head in, tells us who we (Daniel Tepper is the other intern) are meeting that day, and then we watch Derick take on some marketing errand, be it a conference call, editing a brochure, or setting up a lunch date. Eventually we are sent back to our office with a simple task, like cataloging newspaper articles, or more engineering reading, which (frankly) isn’t so simple, or looking up who’s who in the development world. We may go sit in on a meeting for marketing, or we may go meet with someone in the office and talk to them about what they do, or what project they are working on now.

So far we have met with Virginia (accounting), Marco (engineering), Wally (engineering), Robert (Chief Operating Officer), and though we have not yet met with Amy (marketing), I think I know what she and Kim do because we see them all of the time while shadowing Derick.

The day ends with more Derick-shadowing, another hour or so spent doing marketing chores or engineering reading, and then a satisfying but chilly walk to my car, and a perfectly straight drive home (I make one turn on my entire drive home).

Basketball
Here is a recap of this year’s final basketball game between HWA and Morris Architects as described by the team’s coach, Brian Lawrence: ”With HWA leading the entire game, Morris mounts a comeback. With 10 seconds to go in regulation and HWA leading with the score 46-45, Jessica Albert (HWA) gets fouled and makes both free throws in a high pressure (one-on-one free throw situation) which makes the score 48-45. Anthony Ferguson of Morris Architects then  hits a 3 pointer from the top of the key to tie the game at 48-48, sending the game into overtime.”  HWA players were  steady and skilled and would go on to win the final game, 61-57.  As a team, HWA was 10-13 at the free throw line.

Softball
The coach was available for comment and offered the following information. In the Spring of 2009, HWA was 10 wins and 4 losses and, in the Fall of 2009, the team went to 8 and 6. If the weather continues to improve, the championship playoffs for the Fall League will be held Monday, January 11, 2010 at the Houston Sportsplex on South Main. Games will be played under single elimination until one team is left to claim bragging rights for the 2009 Fall season.

Bowling
Two HWA teams fought long and hard for their position this year. Out of 33 teams, HWA Kingpins came in 14th and HWA Pinheads came in 18th. Twelve weeks of grueling competition flew by as both teams tried to reach the top and lay claim to the 1st place trophy. Maybe next year. Congratulations to Brian L., Jack H., Oscar V., James D., and Briana Lawrence of the Kingpins and to Charles E., Quyen T., Paul R., Stuart B., and Angel Trieu of the Pinheads.

On Saturday, June 6th, Haynes Whaley participated in AIA Houston’s 23rd Annual Sandcastle Competition, coming home with a win in the “Best Traditional” category. However, the highlight of the day was the team’s “green” water pump design that successfully brought water (a critical ingredient in sandcastle building) from the Gulf of Mexico to their build site.

On March 27th, Haynes Whaley and Cooper Carry “Sent Hunger Down the Drain” at the 2009 AIA Northern Virginia CANstruction competition, a charity committed to ending hunger. Across the nation, competitions are held among teams of architects, designers, engineers, contractors, and students to build structures made entirely out of canned food. At the end of each competition, the canned food is donated to local food banks. Haynes Whaley and Cooper Carry teamed together once again – this time to build a giant “Mario and Goomba” out of approximately 800 cans of food, which was given to the Arlington Food Assistance Center in Arlington, Virginia. Knowing that this food will help others is award enough. However, it was nice to learn that our team’s structure was also recognized in the competition. Mario and Goomba won the 2009 “Peoples’ Choice” award!  Thanks to everyone who participated in and sponsored this great event. Special thanks to Haynes Whaley Engineers Alexis Pacella, Dustin Wakefield, and Sam Park (pictured).