[ETUG 25] Best Wishes to you ETUG on your 25th Anniversary and Always

Thank you Stewardship Committee and everyone for this honour of Member Emeritus. It’s a proud moment for me to be standing along side of fellow SCETUG Members Emeriti:   Jim Bizzocchi, John Blackwell, Irwin De Vries, Cathy van Soest, Amanda Harby, Bob Clark, Jacqueline Bradshaw, Patrick O’Brien, Randy Bruce, Paul Stacey, Gina Bennett and kele fleming.
ETUG means a lot of different things to people. It means a lot to me. For me it’s always been a community full of creative and curious educators, interested in transforming education to make learning better for students. What makes this community special is that it is the place where we can share what we are doing, learning and failing at with courage, humour and panache.

As we celebrate ETUG’s 25 years, I hope you make excellent connections and take away ideas that inspire you. But take a moment, as well, to consider not just what you will get, but what you will give back – whether it’s reaching out to a new member, sharing back what you’ve learned with colleagues, or coming forward as a community volunteer–It’s this reciprocity that will sustain ETUG and help it to thrive in the years to come. It’s this sharing of your good work that will help us make the change in education we all want to see.
As a community, we’ve done some amazing and crazy things, experimented together, and in the process, made many, many friends and fond memories. Every year, at about this time, it’s wonderful to see the ETUG chickens “home to roost”, as well as new faces and leaders emerging among us.
I tip my hat to those whose contributions made ETUG what it is today: Thank YOU so much. And to future volunteers and leaders…all the best.