“Every sunset brings the promise of a new dawn.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
I love good sunsets. Every one is different, but they all have two things in common: they always bring incredible joy with their breathtaking beauty, and that beauty helps to end the day. Sunsets make great analogies as well because, as the sun begins to set on my presidency and my leadership comes to an end, I am finding great joy in the beauty of all we have accomplished together.
The idea of togetherness strikes a chord with me. It is critically important to my life, personally and professionally. Work gets done, together. Experiences are enjoyed, together. Challenges are overcome, together. Community is achieved, together. I felt so passionately about the connection between togetherness and our organization that I adopted as my presidential theme, “We ARE ACSM!” I introduced the theme shortly after my installation, and it has served as a banner over all we have accomplished – together- over the past year.
A major focus of my presidency has been inspiring member engagement in the organization to ensure high levels of satisfaction and a sense of belonging. It is not enough to simply keep and attract members, we want our members to be active, energized, contributory and fulfilled. To that end, I established a Member Engagement Task Force that is working with our Membership Committee to identify strategies for increasing engagement and retention of our members. We look forward to reviewing and implementing their recommendations.
It is hard to believe, but we are nearly at the midpoint of our three-year strategic plan. Thanks to the amazing efforts of our Strategic Planning Committee, standing committees and ACSM staff, we have completed or made significant progress on most of the tactics supporting the plan’s five goals. Strategic Planning Committee Chair, Heather Chambliss, PhD, FACSM, provides quarterly updates on our progress, and you can read the current version here. Thanks to Heather for doing such a great job leading ACSM’s strategic planning!
I am so proud of President-elect Carrie Jaworski, MD, FACSM, Annual Program Committee Chair, Eric Rawson, PhD, FACSM, and all of the wonderful committee members and ACSM staff for their hard work planning and preparing for next month’s Annual Meeting. Excellence is always our goal for every Annual Meeting, and this year’s meeting will no doubt meet and surpass the high standards for which ACSM is known. I hope to see you all in Atlanta!
As an organization and as individuals who make up that organization, we continue to face many changes and challenges. But through it all, ACSM will be resolute in supporting our members and certified professionals, and in pursuing our vision to extend and enrich lives through the power of movement.
Finally, as Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Every sunset brings the promise of a new dawn”, I am so excited about the dawn of a new day as President-elect Carrie Jaworski takes the gavel next month. We could not be in better hands. Like me, she will benefit from the amazing ACSM staff, volunteer leaders and all ACSM members and certified professionals. Thank you all for trusting me with being president of ACSM. I will be forever grateful for this amazing opportunity!
In that dawning of a new day, we will do remarkable things because… WE ARE ACSM!
With gratitude,
Stella L. Volpe, PhD, RDN, ACSM-CEP, FACSM
President, ACSM
