President's Letter

January 1st 2010

Happy New Year Everyone!   I am proud serve as the new President of IDEA for 2010.   Congratulations to Past President Gary Hatfield along with the entire executive board. They worked very hard to put another successful year down in the books.   I would like to thank Howard Miller for his time as our Financial Director and would like to welcome Joe Sieczkowski as our new Financial Director.

We had another successful Fall Conference at Heartland Community College this past November.   I would like to again sincerely thank our workshop presenters, our vendors, sponsors, and IDEA members for attending the conference.   A great number of you gave up personal time, family time, professional time from work and some of you traveled far to be there.   Our organization couldn't have done it without you.   Congratulations to the two vendors who earned the Vendor of the Year Award for 2009: Krisann Rehbein and Jennifer Masengarb of Chicago Architecture Foundation, along with Dan Coleman of MasterGraphics Inc.  

Mark your calendars! A new year has begun which means the Regional Drafting Competitions will be happening in March. Register as soon as possible! Members please sign your students up for this exiting and competitive opportunity and encourage other drafting teachers you know to get involved as well. Check the IDEA website for regional competition information dates and locations.   

As we begin this New Year, I would like every IDEA member to make a conscious effort to seek out a new drafting teacher in your district, in a nearby town, or even an old college buddy and personally invite them to join the IDEA family. The IDEA is an outstanding organization and we have the ability to be stronger and larger in numbers. Let's make a personal commitment to introduce one new drafting teacher to the IDEA. Both teachers and students can benefit from this great organization.  

Thank You,
Nick Low
IDEA President 2010