Providing opportunities for young professionals to build relationships
while taking action in the Indianapolis community.

Indianapolis Jaycees Golf Shirts

Indianapolis Jaycees golf shirts are in! The embroidered golf shirts are a short-sleeve, 50-50 cotton-polyester blend, and available in various colors. The cost is $7.50 per shirt. If you placed an order, or still want to order, please contact Traci Powell. Let Traci know if you are interested in other embroidered items. Customize your Jaycee wearables.

Contact Traci Powell at indyjcvpmktg@yahoo.com or 270-875-5888.

The 2006 Year End State Convention was this past weekend, and I wanted to give everyone a summary of the weekend.

This was one of the best State Conventions that I've been to - there was good training on Saturday, two Indy Jaycees won State competitions, and there was some good news for the Indy Chapter for 2007.

As part of the initiative to be a leadership training organization, the State has the goal of offering more substantial training at State Conventions in 2007, and this Convention was a good start. For example, Garret McNally, one of the US Jaycees National Vice Presidents (NVP) was in attendance on Saturday morning to give us some training on the "Action Institute", a US Jaycees program on membership issues such as recruitment and retention.

I also want to congratulate Traci Powell and Noelle Dunckel on winning their competitions. Traci competed in and won the Armbruster Competition, which tests and evaluates the interviewing skills of the competitors. Noelle gave an outstanding speech in the Speak-up competition, and handily won the top prize. Noelle's speech was so outstanding, that she was asked to present her speech to the entire Convention during the evening awards ceremony on Saturday. It was a moving speech that I think all of us should take to heart as both Jaycees and as citizens. I hope to be able to offer the speech to you in some form in the near future so you can enjoy and learn from it as well.

The good news I mentioned centers on the Parade of Chapters, which is a program the State uses to rank and recognize the most active Chapters in Indiana.

For 2006, the Hobart Jaycees was recognized as the top Chapter in Indiana. Hobart has about 80 members, and they have had a great year. The 2006 Hobart President, Gary Keiffer, has done a great job enabling his VP's and membership to take charge and follow their passions, and it shows in the enthusiasm they displayed when they were announced as the No. 1 Chapter.

Where was Indianapolis in the Parade? For 2006, we weren't ranked. We weren't ranked for a variety of reasons, but not one of the reasons are because we aren't active or aren't as good as Hobart. When I compare Indianapolis to Hobart, I don't see a single reason why we can't compete with Hobart in 2007, but I'll get to this in a moment.

The good news I mentioned above is that for 2007, Noelle Dunckel, who won the Speak-up competition, has volunteered to be our State Director for 2007. One of the responsibilities of the State Director is to help the Chapter record and submit the Parade paperwork to the State. With Noelle's help, there is no reason why Indianapolis can't reach the top 3 in the Parade of Chapters.

This gets to some of my goals for 2007. While I would love for Indianapolis to be recognized as the top Chapter for 2007, that is not my goal. My goal for 2007 is to provide interesting programs and projects, to increase Chapter membership and energy, and to make the Indianapolis Jaycees an organization that all young adults in the metro area want to be a part of. If reaching these goals make Indianapolis the top Chapter in the Parade, that's great. If we end up someplace below number 1, that's great too. To me, while awards and rankings are nice, success is my number one goal.

Once again, congratulations to Hobart for being the top Indiana Chapter for 2006, and congratulations to Traci and Noelle for their outstanding performances at Convention.

Best Regards,
Jeff Higbie
President, Indianapolis Jaycees