President's Message
Let's have a great 2005!
By Shauna
Goya
AAJA Hawaii Chapter President
Welcome
fellow AAJA-Hawaii members! We would like to increase our membership
and get more members to participate in the many activities we have.
Please make an effort to attend a meeting, volunteer to help at an
event, or contact one of the officers or board members to let us know
how we could improve AAJA, and how we can serve you better.
(Updated May
2005)
Busy, busy,
busy. No other word has come to mind since I took on the presidency
this past January. So busy that someone actually wrote my first
president's message. But seriously, the things to do for AAJA are never
ending — whether it is preparing for the monthly board meetings,
following up with the "team leaders," relaying messages from national,
coordinating our functions (we've been actively involved in one
function or another each month this year) or working on our Web site.
But despite the long days, I'm proud to be leading this organization.
We have some committed people and we're working to share our mission
with as many new people as possible. One of our goals that the officers
set early in the year was to raise the profile of AAJA-Hawaii. I'm
happy with the progress we made to date. Although our functions could
always have a better turnout, we've seen some new faces and our
membership is slowly increasing.
And that's where the reward comes from: When I meet new people at our
chapter-sponsored events and their enthusiasm matches mine when I tell
them about all the great benefits AAJA offers. Or when they decide to
take an active role in AAJA and help out with some of the planning. For
the past several years, AAJA usually involved only the board members
and a handful of other dedicated members. I really hope to change that
and see an active membership, especially as we gear up to host the
national convention next June.
So far the chapter held a social, did a community service project,
hosted a college night and co-sponsored several events that addressed
journalism issues. We're also in the middle of our second annual media
basketball league, which has drawn 11 teams this year. We've increased
the scholarship award for students to $2,000, will be partially
sponsoring a summer internship at The Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu
Star-Bulletin, and will be offering a travel grant to a select few who
are attending the national convention in Minnesota this summer.
Next on our plate: planning our second annual Sushi & Sake Night,
getting together a professional development workshop and honoring our
scholarship winners at an upcoming luncheon. And of course, convention
planning is one of our highest priorities at the moment.
Thank you again to all those who supported AAJA. Let's make the second
half of the year even better! Get involved and represent your newsroom.
Fresh ideas will help make this chapter even greater and achieve more
things. Remember, the difference is in diversity.
Sincerely,
Shauna Goya
