Edict #27

April 4, 2018

Well, it sure was interesting being President of STF during what was by far the most bizarre eight month period of my life. As much as I’d like to chronicle all my adventures here, that’s not what this space is for.

There are many people to thank this term that I haven’t covered yet. One person doesn’t run STF on their own. A great many of you volunteer and because you do this website functions in all the ways we want it to. I’ll start more broadly and go on to more specific people.

STF Membership

Thanks to the entire STF Membership. This term went very smoothly, which has a ton to do with how civil everyone was in their interactions with each other. Also it was wonderful to see our community support each other as we worked through a shared loss this term. Several people, including myself, went through some challenging times in addition to that. Thanks to those who leant me a listening ear when I needed it and thanks to the club for being patient with me when I was largely out of commission in September and October.

Cabinet Members, Assistants to Cabinet Members, Executive Assistants, TECH members, EGOists, and Discord Operators

Thank you to all of you who had official roles. Many of you put in a lot of long, hard work and a lot of that goes largely unnoticed. Thank you all for the amazing job you do.

Crew Members of Outpost 42

I brought my A game to being a CO a rather small percentage of this term I felt like. I was thrown off in September and it’s been a challenge for me to get back in the swing ever since. Thanks to my crew for continuing to be fantastic even when I wasn’t as active as usual.

Former Presidents of STF

Thanks to all those former Presidents who answered my question before the term about what the one thing the STF President needs to keep in mind. All the advice I received was great and it shaped my perspective on the presidency for the better.

Kat Dedul

Thank you, Kat, for always being a go-to person for me when I needed to discuss something. I always appreciate your perspective, your advice, and your willingness to listen.

Russell Watt

Thank you, Russ, for helping to maintain my sanity at odd times when everyone else is sleeping.

Kate O’Neill

Thank you, Kate, for being a great friend, for keeping me sane, and for being a supportive XO and FComm when I needed it as a CO. Also, thanks for volunteering to be the official lyricist for future STF dictators. I can think of no better person to fill that void.

Joe P.

Thank you, Joe, for taking me up on my suggestion to give me unsolicited advice when I needed it. Thank you for always setting the bar of expectation high as I think it pushes people to try to reach it. And thank you for helping me navigate through the trickier things of this term. Your passion for doing things the right way makes STF better and I appreciate getting to observe it.

Thomas Bates

Thomas has a great deal of wisdom that I really appreciated being able to rely on both before the term and during it. He was quite helpful as we sorted out how to handle a challenging issue at the beginning of the term and he stepped up when I was out due to a family emergency, leading the club through the beginning discussions of the Community & Marketing Manager proposal he drafted while I was unavailable. He helped me lead the club through a term that was calm and yet found us continuing to build on the foundations of recent terms. Thank you, Thomas, for all your help and support ever since we quickly threw together our last minute campaign. Thanks for helping nudge me into giving this a try.

Jeremy DeSpain

Early in the term I was having a challenge figuring out who would take one of the cabinet spots. I approached Jeremy and he turned me down, which I respected and understood considering his circumstances. He came back to me later and told me he’d be willing to do it. He believed in training people up and he wanted to act on that even if it wasn’t convenient for him. When I settled on who to put where it worked out that he could train from an Assistant FComm position, which he agreed to do.

Also this term Jeremy was going to step down from the roster I oversee as CO. He changed his mind and stuck it out just because he knew it would make one of the other players happy if he stayed.

I could also go into Jeremy sticking up for me when I found myself in a messy situation as a CO even though it cost him something to do so. Suffice it to say, Jeremy would put the needs and wants of other people ahead of his own. He lived out what he believed in and I loved having the opportunity to witness that. I’m hopeful that having seen how he conducted himself it will influence me to be a better member of this community and a better person as well.

Thank you, Jeremy, for being who you were. I, along with many others, miss you greatly.

Adam W.
President