President’s Message.
Well this is the last time you’ll have to hear from me. (Oh, this sounds ominous even to me.) There are two themes in this message, Society news and a final philosophical rant. Proceed with caution.
The society news is the changing of the guard. To the outgoing officers and advisers I extend congratulations for jobs well done and appreciation for your unselfish efforts and expenditure of personal time to get the Society through another year. Groups like ours depend heavily on the volunteer efforts of our members, and this board was exemplary, performing above and beyond, conducting the business of the society efficiently and effectively.
Notable achievements included an excellent technical program and student sponsorship, scheduled by Samantha Leone as this year’s President Elect. Samantha will be stepping up as next year’s President, taking over where I leave off. Best of luck Samantha, I know I am leaving the Society in capable hands. Jennifer Hargrave has graciously agreed to fill the position of President Elect to take over Samantha’s past role of building the technical program for 2016-17.
This year’s Vice President, Justin Guidry, was in charge of special events like the fall Barbecue and the student Meet and Greet in February. Each of these functions were well attended by both professionals and students. Justin also helped coordinate and integrate the activities of the committee chairs to keep Society functions such as these running smoothly. It was unfortunate that the downturn in the energy industry necessitated canceling both the golf tournament and the Barry Wawak fieldtrip this year, but Justin and the Advisors, Rudy Gibbs and Jen Watkins, put in extraordinary efforts up to the end. Justin will be leaving the board this year to be replaced by the new Vice President John Hollier.
The outgoing Secretary, Elizabeth Boudreau, performed her duties with efficiency and punctuality aiding the other board members with scheduling while documenting our activities. The quick turnaround insured discussions remained relevant and tasks were performed in a timely manner. Fortunately, this professionalism will continue as Elizabeth has agreed to continue performing the role of Secretary for next year’s board.
Terri Bannister, this year’s outgoing Treasurer, has managed to keep the Society in the black despite my best efforts. Terri stepped up to the job last August and learned the job quickly. As a consequence she now has an excellent understanding of the Society finances. Like Elizabeth, Terry has agreed to continue her role as Treasurer on next year’s board. She will remain to be an asset to the Society.
It is with some sadness I report that we will be losing both of our Advisors at the end of this term. Work and other responsibilities have drawn them away and we wish them the best in their future endeavors. Rudy Gibbs was instrumental in maintaining a strong sponsorship and advertising program. Jen Watkins became our Jack of all trades taking on every task requested of her, including the poster sessions at the LAGCOE breakfast, researching LGS publications for potential resale income to the Society, and single-handedly organizing the Harry Roberts Wax Lake Outlet Fieldtrip. (More on this later.) Our new Advisors for 2016-17 will be Lou Groth and Kaare Egedahl. Welcome to the board both of you.
And last but not least two very important committees behind the scenes are Communication and Education Outreach. James Willis (Bulletin) and John Boggs (website) on the Communication Committee keep us informed, while Tim Deux and Hunter Lipman (AAPG student chapter vice president) provided insight into the University and student educational priorities.
Theme II.
I’ll begin this with a short true story. I know it’s true because I experienced it. I’m at the grocery store behind a lady checking out. She’s having a debate (some might say heated argument) about the price of a head of broccoli. She thinks the clerk is charging her a nickel (five cents) too much, but he patiently explains the prices are by weight not by the bunch. She reluctantly agrees to pay the “inflated” price for her broccoli. Since she’s buying broccoli I assume she is health-conscious but apparently has some budget problems since five cents seems to matter. She then proceeds to buy a lottery ticket.
There are a lot of tangents we can take from this story, but let’s avoid the obvious and look at an underlying premise. We all go through life with certain expectations of future outcomes and realizations about paths to follow, but that doesn’t deter us from seeking our dreams. The lady in the story above had a dream, and she was willing to sacrifice other goals and priorities to ensure she had an opportunity to make her dream a reality. This is why she made sure she could afford that lottery ticket.
So what if anything does this have to do with the Lafayette Geological Society? This year your board has been actively pursuing fundraising activities that would build fraternity among the members, connect us to the broader Lafayette community, integrate us with the University, and provide us with an avenue to help support the students. Our traditional events, the Barbecue (which broke even) and the golf tournament (which was canceled) have both failed to accomplish the last task of financial support for the students and University. But we did manage to come up with three events that had the potential of meeting all these goals and bring in a modest profit to contribute to the University. Unfortunately, they were all last minute scheduling while we are still in trying economic times. As a consequence attendance was poor, but as you will see, some small profits were made and lessons learned that show the potential for larger gains in the future.
The Wine and Geology of France event started off with limited seating, but disappointingly was not filled. Attendance was mixed including members, nonmembers and students. It was enjoyable and educational. And even without full attendance there was a small potential for profit due to remaining outstanding balances. The final numbers aren’t in, but we will be planning a repeat for next year.
The Wax Lake Fieldtrip could not garner the limited attendance necessary to be cost-effective and was canceled. However, as I frequently say “the answer to the unasked question will always be no”, so I asked the question. Cancellation came with a 50% penalty to the cost of the trip. I asked Hobart, since it was a fund raising event, if they would consider donating that penalty to the cause. They agreed. Thus, as many prospectors know, you can make money from a dry hole if your promote is attractive enough. So the canceled fieldtrip will net the University $492.75. Thank you Hobart.
The alumni crawfish boil (which we opened to the LGS membership at the last minute) was also successful with 28 alumni and others contributing to pay for 13 student admissions. Relevant to the “unasked question”, we got the crawfish at cost (David Bieber), volunteer cooks (Jim Gamble and Ellis Guilbeau), and free beer (Schilling Distributors) which made the whole thing affordable. We made about $400 in profit, with an additional $200 donated by the participants to the newly established Student Technology and Research Fund. Not bad for first-time collaboration.
Three events and they all made a little money, with less than 10% of the membership participating. Imagine the possibilities if more of us made this dream their reality.
It was enjoyable, thanks for listening.
WR (Bill) Finley
