Every summer brings the end of one Ad 2 club year and enters in a new one. I always feel that the end of the club year is bittersweet, but this year that is especially true as it is the end of my Presidency of Ad 2 Madison. As we forge on into our 2018-19 club year I wanted to sit back and reflect on our previous year.
I feel that I can look back on this year with so much pride. The board accomplished a great deal, while also trying new things. There are two things of which I am especially proud. One: we achieved the honor of being named a national Club of Excellence. Each year, the Ad 2 National organization holds a competition between all of the clubs in the country wherein each club earns points for participating in various activities locally and nationally. At the end of the year, each club that earns 80 percent of all possible points is named a Club of Excellence. As a small club, this is a great accomplishment for Ad 2 Madison. Many clubs throughout the nation have double and triple the number of members we have, yet we will still “hung with the big dogs.” We proved that we may be small, but we are still a very strong and active club, and for this, I definitely have the board to thank.
The other big accomplishment we achieved was being recognized with two national awards. Each year, the board submits Club Achievement books highlighting our work throughout the year in the community and for our members. Again, clubs around the nation submit these books and are then judged. Ad 2 Madison received 3rd place in Club Operations and we also received 3rd place for Communications. Being recognized among the best in the nation is such an honor, and shows that all of hard work is realized.
However, awards are not the only things that matter! There are so many things our board members did behind the scenes to help make our club better. This past year, our public service committee (led by our two amazing co-chairs, Corinne Burgermeister and Kaine Korzekwa) worked with the National Alliance for Mental Illness – Wisconsin Chapter. The committee developed and executed marketing strategies pro bono for NAMI over the course of the year. We hope that the foundation they built for the organization has set their marketing team up for success for years to come.
Our treasurer and fundraising chair, Jenna Hillmer, worked very hard to secure sponsors over the course of the year so that we could continue bringing our members resources and educational events without breaking the bank. Our organization does not exist to make money, but we do have to stay afloat in order to keep serving our members, and Jenna did an excellent job of balancing our budget and bringing in sponsors to help make our ideas a reality.
Rachel Plesha has been an excellent membership chair for two years. She is always engaging members, finding out what would make their experience better and relaying it back to the board. Her hard work and enthusiasm was always so infectious and I’m convinced it helped get more members in the door.
Our communications team did a great job this year (of course they did, they won a national award for their work!). Taylor Kennedy and Liz Haferkorn worked so hard to bring a new, fresh re-design to the Ad 2 website and logo, and the result was fantastic. Emily Kelly and Abby Lipp also made sure that our members were up-to-date on all of the ongoings of the club by providing engaging social posts and email newsletters. Part of the reason our events were so successful was because of the hard work of this team put in to get the word out and promote everything we were doing as a club.
Finally, this year would not have been so successful if it wasn’t for two people who were always there to help me when I needed it: Lauren Simonis and Coley Lipp. As the Vice President, Lauren was the one who worked her tail off to plan all of our great events like the Diversity Panel and our networking happy hours. She is probably the hardest worker I know, and I don’t know if many people saw how much work it took to do what she did this year, but trust me: it was A LOT. I really appreciated her work and dedication — and I know she will do an amazing job this year as President. Last, but certainly not least; as the Past President, Coley was always there to help guide the club and give sound advice when we needed it, and helped to guide me, personally, into being a better President than I could ever have been without her. These two women have been the voices that have kept me sane when I thought I might fail at this! I couldn’t have done it without them.
Being the President of Ad 2 Madison was such an honor. I’m sad to see the year is gone, but I know that the club has great things in store for the 2018-2019 club year. Thanks to all of our members for being so great and for letting me be a part of this great group of people. I’m so excited to see where the club goes from here — check out our newest board! I know it will only continue to grow and become stronger.
Kirsten Short
President 2017- 2018
Ad 2 Madison
