As we get close to the end of the year. I hope everything is good with you and everyone you care about. I know life has been hard for some. Some of us in the association and myself have been through some tough times. This association was founded as a corporate nonprofit that wanted to provide scholarships to Bowen graduates. Have we been the best at doing that? There is always room for improvement.
One of the things I said when I became President was I wanted to grow the committees that make this organization better. That’s been tough going since the alumni before the association was fragmented. It still technically is. Its something I was hoping would change. It hasn’t yet. Some believe it will never happen and started their own thing furthering the divide. I acknowledge all the groups and try to interact with them in hopes we work on a common cause, Bowen. Everyone who will read this message has a love for the school they graduated from. Their love manifests in different ways.
Sometimes we don’t agree with each other but it isn’t about us. It never has been. It’s been about the purpose of this org, scholarships. The organization can grow to do other things but not without active membership that joins the scholarship, membership, event, and HOF committees. Right now most of the board members run those committees and it shouldn’t be like that. We should have an active membership that runs those committees to give balance and transparency. Right now we have so much on our plate that its hard to get certain things done, especially me. I’m grateful to Dwight Johnson who has recently come on and has worked with me and other members to bridge gaps and help where he can. I want to thank Rita J who does all she can within the HOF committee and her work with Jim Kline who has become our parliamentarian of sorts. His experience is much needed.
But we need more. I know there are people outside of the association who want change before they dedicate themselves. Well without membership and getting those space needed filled it will be hard to make those changes, not impossible but difficult. We do have plans for 2025 but we don’t hold secrets we can’t be transparent because of the small amount of people working on something. A personal issue could derail a plan. We don’t want to make all these statements that we are doing this or that and they never happen. But I realized that withholding is just as bad as failing to keep plans. Withholding allows people to take that vacuum and say what they want and paint the org with their brush. I can’t promise anything as I stated before, but there are things planned to happen.
Lastly, I want to explain how the association works. This is a volunteer org that has an initial purpose. to give you a better definition…
“A volunteer organization is a collective of individuals who freely come together to offer their time and skills for the benefit of others, operating without the aim of profit and often focusing on social good.”
Source: https://www.perplexity.ai/search/what-is-the-definition-of-a-vo-qUbyctw9SWqfQaOJjVu3bQ
We can expand the membership to be more than scholarships. Currently, with the active membership we have we can’t do it alone. I’ve asked this before but a few of my mistakes were not saying it on a larger platform where more people can see and not repeating it over and over and over again until I was satisfied everyone heard it and repeated it again. It’s no doubt that all the alumni whether you’re in the association or one of the alumni groups are dedicated and want to do something. I would like to see us all work together. I’ve never bad-mouthed anyone, I’ve never treated anyone poorly. People who know me know that is the truth. So I hope this helps you understand better. If you have questions ask me directly or post in the comments on the blog or wherever I post this on social media. It’s one group I think I’m not allowed to post to, I hope the admins post it there also.
I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. If you want to invite me to Thanksgiving dinner please do. It’s only me and my cat Adora in the house now so I don’t want to cook dinner just for me (and the cat).