CALLERLAB is blessed to have so many leaders that volunteer their time to support the organization. The sum truly is greater than its parts. Without these dedicated members much would get left undone. One will be recognized by honoring them with the Chairman's Award.
It has been said if you wish to get something done give it to someone that is already busy. Our award recipient certainly fits this bill. It will be extremely difficult to disguise the honoree so I'll start out this time by announcing the Chairman's Award is to be presented to Mr. Clark Baker.
One of our more difficult positions within our organization is that of Chairman for an active committee. The Definitions Committee is no ordinary committee. Since 1996 Clark took on the task of standardizing the format and descriptions for the call definitions. The vocabulary used needed modification to be understood by everyone in a progressive manner spanning all programs from Basic and beyond. While reviewing the definitions, ambiguities and misinterpretations needed to be clarified. Many have volunteered to assist with this project and many have had different ideas on how each call should be written. The task, kin to herding cats, is not an easy chore. He has kept track of all input provided along the way, and when the time was right, meticulously followed up on each comment or suggestion, clarified and summarized the information, followed by a vote of the committee members. Some outside the committee have not been receptive of this process but none has been able to match the output of work that has been accomplished.
The task has proved to be more time consuming than originally thought because the scope of their work affects so many other committees. The work is ongoing and will no doubt be subject to much more debate.
As if this alone is not enough work, Clark has volunteered his time to assist with editing many other procedures and policy documents. He was part of a task group that reevaluated our Basic and Mainstream teaching order and as a result compiled a valuable document called the Teaching Order Design Principles. Based upon that document the CALLERLAB Basic and Mainstream teaching order was modified and approved by the membership; again, not an easy task.
He has also helped with editing Direction for many years and assisted the Home Office with converting document formats from WordPerfect to Word, all while using a Mac.
Clark is also involved with many other committees and serves on various ad hoc groups including work for the Application Review Committee. Clark was elected to the CALLERLAB Board of Governors since 1999, been elected to serve on the Executive Committee for the last three years, soon to start a fourth term, which handles some of the day to day operations and acts as planning committee for the annual conventions.
Clark still maintains a home and traveling program, calling everything from zesty contras to beginner dance parties through C4. In his spare time Clark is involved with various on-line forums, constantly surveys the internet for pertinent information, is an active member of area callers and dancer associations, assist with Tech Squares, enjoys dancing, playing numerous board games, host weekends, and raised a family with his very supportive wife Miriam.
He has proven to be a great asset to myself, the EC, and this organization. And so, it is with great honor I present this Chairman's Award to one of our activities most outstanding contributors, Mr. Clark Baker.