47th CALLERLAB Convention
April 12, 2022
Milestone Award
Presented by Wendy VanderMeulen
My Board of Governor’s tenure doesn’t start until tomorrow and they’ve already put me to work! But it’s a task to which I am very honoured to have been assigned.
The Milestone Award is given to individuals who, to put it bluntly, are pretty amazing. They have given hours and hours and hours of their time; they have shared their expertise; they have shown time and time again their love for CALLERLAB; and they have given their heart and soul to ensuring the success of the organization and the activity. They are unselfish in giving of themselves so totally you’re sure they have no other life but square dancing – and we love them for it and hold them in great esteem. And when they are that special – that amazing – they are deserving of our most sincere and public thanks, even though they work much of the time in private and NOT for that public thanks. You will agree that this year’s Award recipient is very deserving of the award when you hear all that this special person has done.
We like to keep you guessing who the person is as we go through the list of things the recipient has done. Trust me, it won’t take long to figure out who it is this time. You will find this person’s contributions to CALLERLAB and the dance activity a very long list indeed, so best to get started.
• This person calls beginners through Challenge.
• This person calls at schools, square dance parties, and seniors’ centres.
• This person also prompts Contra and has served on the CONTRALAB Board.
• This person teaches callers with an annual callers’ school.
• This person participates regularly at the Community Dance Leaders’ Seminar.
• This person is an active member of 15 – count ‘em – FIFTEEN – CALLERLAB committees – I don’t know about you, but every time I turn around, Oops! There she is again! (oh darn, did I just say “she”?) Oh well, so now that you know, I can say…. • She is the Chair of one committee and vice chair of two.
• She almost single-handedly wrote the Sight & Module Resolution book.
• She almost single-handedly created the Online Teaching Resource found at teaching.callerlab.org.
• She almost single-handedly pulled together all the information you find in the online Dance Resource found at dances.callerlab.org.
• She has been on the Board of Governors for 8 years and during that time served on the Executive Committee for 3 years.
I’m sure you know who she is, by now, but I’m not done! Besides all of that,
• She has served on the committees of 4 Canadian National Conventions, including the one coming up in July of this year in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
• She is the secretary for the Square & Round Dance Federation of Nova Scotia and the Metro Square & Round Dance Association.
• She is the editor of the Metro Matters newsletter.
Chances are I’ve missed a few things, but by now you all know that we are so proud to present this year’s Milestone Award to Dottie Welch