Blog

Hello!

I have always thought of February as the “dog days of winter.” (No offense meant to dogs, for those who know me well, I am very much a dog person). By now, I am usually suffering from my struggle through the long, cold winter. But this winter, it has hardly felt like we live in Chicago. Sure, we have had some snow….and a few chilly days, but nothing like we have experienced in recent years. So lately, I have found myself frequently thinking about spring.

Spring will bring our expanded tour schedule. It was so fun to sign up for April tours this month and have a significant number of tours on my calendar to choose from! Spring will see the new 2020 docent class out on the street, pounding the pavement as they learn their new tours. Spring will also bring back the river cruise, starting before spring officially dawns with the first cruise on March 15! Twenty-five docents are taking river cruise training that starts next month, and they are already working on the pre-class homework! A special thanks to all the sponsors/certifiers/readers who have stepped up to make sure that all this training can happen.

In my letter last month, I discussed the desire to improve docent collaboration with the other stakeholders of CAC, staff and volunteers. After all, “One Team: Collaborate” is one of our core values. To that end, I would like to make you all aware of the Staff/Docent Executive Committee that has existed for the past few years in a rather informal way. Lately, there has been a more direct effort to formalize this group. Michael Malak, CAC Vice President of Operations and Business Strategy, Caroline Duda, CAC Manager of Volunteer Engagement, and Casey Crail, CAC Manager of Tour Operations, join the past President, President, and Vice President of docent council, as well as committee chairs from some of our standing committees to comprise this discussion group.

I want to remind all docents that docent council, and the standing committees are here for YOU. If you have issues that you feel staff needs to address, please forward your concern to me, to any member of docent council, or to one of the committee chairs. Then the council to consider your concern, determine who best to address it, and provide a timely response. We are trying to avoid having 400 separate voices as we work with our staff and volunteer partners. Rather, let’s present a unified “docent voice”.

Speaking of docent voices, hopefully your voice has had time to relax and recharge during this mild winter in preparation for all the excitement and adventure looming with the busy 2020 tour season fast approaching. And to prove that my “dog days” of winter have been happy ones, here is a picture of Casper Foutty!

CLICK HERE to read the December 2019 Docent Council minutes.