2010 Spring President’s Message
Mary Burzynski
As I
sit down to write this article, I am anticipating a weekend trip to visit my
dad in my hometown of Slayton,
Minnesota. My sisters and I are traveling home to celebrate
our father’s 88th birthday with him.
Eighty-eight, wow!
Thinking about my dad’s birthday and the trip home made
me reminisce a little about my childhood, and I started thinking about some of
the lessons I learned from my parents growing up. They taught me the Golden
Rule. They taught me always to give all
that I had to whatever I did, that anything worth doing is worth doing well. I
clearly remember my dad saying to me, There is never a right time for anything. We make our decisions based on what we know
at the time, and we make those decisions work.
My mother gave me some advice that may sound a little
crazy, but I have found it works for me.
When I was a young woman, my mother passed along these words of wisdom: Mary, you would be amazed what a little lipstick
would do for you. You may think that
sounds a little vain and just a wee bit funny, and I am guessing that you are really
wondering what in the world it has to do with court reporting, so I will tell
you. The connection is the power of
color.
In the late summer of 2009, WCRA’s Public Relations
Committee began discussing ideas to rev up our publicity campaign. We thought getting posters into our local
schools may be a way to spark interest in court reporting. Because we were not satisfied with the poster
that the NCRA catalog offered, Doris Pfeiffer volunteered to design one. What made her poster more appealing than the
one that NCRA offered? It has color.
The PR Committee’s poster made its debut at our fall
convention in Elkhart
Lake, and because of the
interest it generated, we were off and running.
Thanks to the database compiled by Judy Zickert and the enthusiasm of
our convention attendees, we were able to get our posters into the hands of
reporters from just about every county in the state. They went like hotcakes. Again, I remind you, it is surprising what a little
color will do.
Was it our eye-catching poster or was it because it was
being delivered by the Honorable Peter Grimm, along with his court reporter,
Michelle Kreidler, that led to an article in the Fond du Lac newspaper and an interview in The Third Branch? While I suspect it was the willingness of
Judge Grimm to volunteer his time to help Michelle get these posters to their
local high schools that generated the interest, the upside is the positive
publicity we received from their efforts.
Thank you, Judge Grimm and Michelle.
You can check out the article in the Fond du Lac newspaper at fdlreporter.com.
While perhaps not motivated by a colorful little poster,
volunteering is alive and well among our members. WCRA recently sponsored two Realtime Hook-Up
Workshops, one in Milwaukee
County and one in Dane County. All presenters donated their time and
talents. Special thanks go to Jane Jones
and to Lisa Carey. Thanks to the
culinary skills of Linda Matoska, Janet Schulz, and Lori Otto, the WCRA Student
Scholarship Fund received a generous donation from a luncheon they prepared to
celebrate Wisconsin Court Reporters Week.
Thank you very much, ladies. Other
reporters are speaking at local bar association meetings, doing demonstrations
at high schools and career fairs. To all
of you unnamed volunteers who are donating your time and your skills to the
profession we love, thank you so much.
Whether
it is a bright, colorful poster that has sparked a surge of volunteerism or
whether the motivation comes from the desire to give back to the career that
has been so rewarding to us does not matter.
It is this kind of activism that keeps us strong. Keep spreading the message about our great
career, and I still say, it is amazing what a little color will do.
View the document below to learn about the value of your
membership in the Wisconsin Court Reporters Association
What Your Association Does For You