Kernals of Koren

It has been a pleasure and honor serving as President the past two years.  My role was made much easier by everyone that made positive contributions to the club.

Everything that has been accomplished is a direct result of the cooperation and enthusiasm of all members that participated in activities including interaction with speakers, submitting images to competition, contributing to the activities on seminar night, attending field trips and voicing opinions at board meetings.  Thank you to all the board members that helped move initiatives forward to make the club better.  The board members that work for the club and organize everything we do are volunteers that give their valuable time to ensure all members benefit from everything a club has to offer.

Specifically I’d like to acknowledge (in no particular order) the following folks that contributed a great deal to the club:
Stephanie selected a great group of speakers and judges that entertained and critiqued us two of the four meetings each month.
Dave Powell and Gene contributed their energy and enthusiasm towards educating us on seminar night.
Larry organized and managed competition night so it flowed as well as it possibly could. Keeping judges informed and on task helped the quality of the comments and, of course, member experience.
Andrew and Phil organized and led field trips to interesting photogenic places.
Renee greeted all visitors with a warm and welcoming introduction to the club.  Many of the membership gains we enjoyed this season are the result of Renee.
Bruce managed our finances and kept all our subscriptions up to date.
Loretta, as PSA representative, provided the club information and encouragement to join the PSA and participate.  Several members became active in PSA due to Loretta’s efforts.
Dan and Mark improved the look of the website to make it even better and more inviting.  Many of our visitors and new members were encouraged to attend their first meeting because of the club’s website.
Catherine diligently documented the board meetings and managed all the email communications by providing one consistent voice of the club to all members.
Norm, as historian, provided scanned copies of every Cable Release issue, since its beginning, so that they could be posted to the website.
Dave Mullen organized a portrait photo shoot between SSCC and A Wider Circle in Silver Spring to provide less fortunate members of the community their own family portrait.
Dennis transformed the Cable Release from a standalone document to a live web based newsletter that’s interactive and limitless in possibilities. All while keeping the same quality and content we have enjoyed since the Cable Release began publication in 1961.
David Blass and Bob both contributed behind the scenes advice and counsel when I needed it most.
David Terao is the unsung hero of our speaker and competition nights. David brings his personal microphone and speakers so we can hear every comment from the judge and speaker.  After downloading the digital submissions from the club’s email account David flawlessly runs the laptop during the digital competition.  He does it so well it appears to the viewer it’s as simple as projecting a slide.  David also took the initiative to help Andrew and others choose our new projector. 
Marite manages and updates the club’s Facebook account by posting our activities and interesting photography related topics.  She does this while living in Peru, proving that helping the club is not restricted by geography. 

Thank you again, and I look forward to upcoming club years as I serve in other roles.