VOICES · Torch:U.S. · Fall 2018
3
VO(I)CES
Grateful
version, without personality, without passion. Without the passion and personality of every member of the JCL, every delegate, chaperone, SCLer, Committee Member, sponsor, and state-chair, the JCL as we know it, the unique, quirky, and amazing culture, would not exist.
I am so grateful and humbled that in this past year, I had the opportunity to lead such an extraordinary community, a community that constantly gives, forging bonds that last long after one convention fades away and another takes it place. These bonds, these memories last even after we make the transition from JCL to SCL, from JCL to college. They form the part of us that we always hold close and that keeps us going in times of struggle. The JCL is what makes us whole.
Ex animo,
Mark Bechthold
2017-2018 NJCL President
A Golden Year
Nothing gold can stay. So the poet tells us, so we live it. My friends, it has been a very short year since we last gathered and in that time nature’s first hue has faded, subsided down to leaf. Time flew too fleeting; I
Additionally, I had the chance to meet the press team at Miami, and we were able to follow up later on when we released a press release packet to the local Oxford and Cincinnati media to promote the JCL.
After that initial meeting, we were able to work cohesively on bigger endeavors. Collin helped me create the National Classics Week Packet, an undertaking that took some time and effort, and I was able to put out the new Proclamation Acquisitions Packet in order to help JCLers and chapters across the country promote the classics by gaining municipal and state-level proclamations. After our board was able to so effectively utilize social media in the ramp-up to and during National Classics Week, we had an excellent time throughout it connecting with all of you as your promoted and celebrated the classics from coast to coast.
I was also able to work on other pet projects. One of the questions I receive most often is what we all - the national officers - do year-round, behind the scenes. I’ll be honest, I had little idea of it myself before I ran. Therefore, I have been recording a series of podcasts with officers current and former in order to provide an idea of just what we do, and also have a little fun connecting with old friends. We hope to roll this out just after convention.
I was also able to keep up with the trends of former VP1’s by reaching out to celebrities and persons of interest in the classical world to ask them to promote the classics via essays, short stories, etc. I hope that my successor can continue to reach out in this manner.
It has been a full and exciting year, but my most important memories were with you: attending state conventions, reaching out to and talking to JCLers, getting input and feedback on what we could do better, and discovering time and again the great reservoirs of love and talent that lie in this community. Thank you so much for this opportunity to serve you, JCL.
Tim Han
2017-2018 NJCL First Vice President
This past year has been an absolute whirlwind, from the day I delivered the inaugural address to the day that I passed on the torch to my very capable successor Natasha Panduwawala. This role has challenged me in ways I could not have imagined, and forced me to grow and change into the person I am today. Without the JCL, I would be a shell of my whole self, a hollowed-out
wish I had more with you in this JCL. Nevertheless, it has been a year worthy of memory.
We began the year at Fall Planning with big ideas and hopes for our terms. It was there that our board was first assembled in full and we had a grand time exploring ways to make this year’s convention run as smoothly as possible.