By Jenna Moore, Chapter President

As a chapter, we dedicated this year to building community-not just our own community, but also relations with other communities. We want to build our membership while offering even more value to our members. Most of all we want to see this community expand and thrive with many hands on the wheel to steer.

Our August program with the NCSU student chapter got us off to a fantastic start. The attendees were pleased, the presenters offered value, and our relationship with the NCSU student chapter got one step stronger. I hope to see this kind of cooperation between our chapters every year to come.

In our second quarter we began undertaking more steps to expand our community reach. We have a new volunteer opportunity to help the men and women fighting for freedom in the Middle East. Betsy Kent is spearheading our program to assist returning veterans with resumes by offering services to review, edit, and assist with updating their civilian resumes. There are many ways this opportunity can help you even as you step up to help them. By reviewing someone else’s resume, you might see opportunities for improvement in your own. You also give our returning veterans the message that their service is valued and help them integrate back into the civilian sector. Whether you are between employment opportunities or working full time, this kind of volunteering looks great on your resume, too. Please consider joining our mailing list to learn more about this opportunity, or contact Betsy Kent.

To keep us moving toward our goal, we need to do a few more things:

• Connect with more outside organizations, such as TriUPA, the Adobe User’s Group, AMWA, and others. If you have connections to another organization that might be interested in our programs and services, please contact a member of our administrative council to serve as a liaison or make connections for someone else that can.
• Connect with more technical communication professionals. We welcome all interested parties to attend our meetings, whether they are members or not. Encourage your coworkers and colleagues to attend our events. These meetings are a great opportunity to learn and network, at no charge.
• It’s also time to start planning our leadership board for next year. Our current administrative council is in office until June, but elections are coming up in the spring. If you know someone who would make an excellent administrative member, please nominate them by contacting a current member of the council. If you're interested or more information about what is involved in volunteering, contact any member of our current administrative council.

So far our year is moving right along. We have many opportunities left to expand our community. Let’s get the name of STC Carolina out in the community. If you have any more suggestions for community outreach, please contact me or any member of the administrative council.

Jenna can be reached at president at stc-carolina dot org.