Future Leaders Spotlight: Georgia Chapter

The SWANA/Hickman Future Leaders program was created to answer the question, “Where will future leaders of the solid waste and materials management industry come from?” These SWANA chapters have the answer! Let’s take a look to see how they created dialogue and partnerships with the universities, community colleges, and institutes in their areas.

Chapter Contributors: Matthew Dolan - Columbus Consolidated Government

Thanks for sharing with us, Matt! Can you tell us about any past events or activities that were hosted by your chapter for students/universities?

Matthew Dolan (MD): The City of Columbus has hosted several “Intern For a Day” participants from the University of Georgia over the past three years. These students come from several different majors within the college allowing them to broaden their knowledge of solid waste. We usually host them for a day while educating them on the careers associated with solid waste while also offering them any sort of mentorship they may need. I really think that this is a great program, it allows the students to get a lot of information out of us on both the industry and our careers. I work directly with the Career Center at UGA in Athens and with the local Columbus State University’s Sustainability Program.

Why would you say it’s important to engage with the next generation?

MD: I talk about this all the time in our board meetings in regards to how important it is to hire and push the next generation to engage in SWANA. It is my feeling that it is the responsibility of everyone to hire young individuals and bring them to conferences. Otherwise, no one will fill their shoes because nobody says when they are in college, “I want to work in trash”.  I know from my past experiences that a lot of times younger individuals are not hired because they are thought to be flight risks or they don’t have any experience, but if we don’t take the opportunity to give them the experience then who will?  We often forget a time when we were the ones who just graduated and needed the foot in the door.

Any future plans for your chapter that you would like to share?

MD: I hope to have a conference this summer where we can get everyone together and have a YP event.

HAVE YOU OR YOUR CHAPTER ENGAGED WITH ACADEMIA?

If so, email Shelby Truxon at struxon@swana.org with your story about engaging with our industry's students and/or universities for an upcoming Future Leaders Spotlight feature.