My impression of the boating program is that we offer quality educational schools and programs for the novice to intermediate canoeist and kayaker. We also offer raft guide instruction primarily via the "plunge" method. Other institutions such as Boy and Girl Scouts of America benefit from low and no-cost instruction from our dedicated volunteers.

The core of our program rests squarely on the shoulders of those who make it go. The boating program is fortunate to have enough folks who are willing to do the sometimes-dirty work and make our roll sessions, work parties and schools a success.

Maintaining continuity of the boating program is a challenge. I recently assumed the role of boating activities chairperson, having taken over from Keith Finn who succeeded Deb Clayton who followed Mike Wadkowski. This year we gained some new faces from our schools and hope they will stay on and become leaders. Some of our old-timers had babies; some old friends moved away. Change, welcomed or not, is inevitable in our program. Managing change to ensure continuity and promote quality is an additional challenge.

Looking forward to next year, I know we will have personnel shifts and changes in responsibilities. I expect we will offer a similar school schedule to the paddling public. I hope to add some changes to our program with rafting experience for school age children and boating experiences for Columbus inner-city youth.

To make the program work for us and those we teach, we will need all the volunteer effort we can get. I challenge our new faces to get involved and encourage the veterans who have not been volunteering to pitch in and make this year's changes and challenges into another quality boating program season.

Respectfully submitted,

John Lane
Boating Activity Leader
614-486-4548
lane.30 (AT) osu.edu