Report of the General Education Committee (“GEC”)

November 1, 2009
The GEC membership is currently as follows –

Cathy Cross, Melinda Dalby, Terry Fisk, Katja Hunsecker- Secretary
Rifky Mackeen – Chair, Lyle Roetemeyer

The GEC, which was Lyle Roetemeyer’s creation, is now maturing into an effective body capable of executing projects which are of value and interest to the membership.

For the second year we are utilizing a major portion of our budget to fund and recognize clubs who understand that they are not simply only “places to meet and train their canines” but also need to conform with the norms expected of them by the general public. Winners for 2009 Regional Directors and President’s Awards will be announced at the meeting.

The second major project underway and subject to Executive Board approval is the creation of a “Knowledge Base” of content, initially from Schutzhund USA (magazine), accessible through the web. This will have search capabilities allowing members to access articles for the last seven years or so. This will also be regularly updated. Content of interest from other public domain sources will also be phased in along with embedded video (say of trials and conformations shows).

We have also printed 5000 copies of the document titled "Schutzhund and the German Shepherd Dog". This is a trifold and spells out what Schutzhund is all about and USA's role. It is meant to educate the general public and new members as to the do’s and don’ts of Schutzhund. This will also be sent to all litter registrants to be handed to new puppy owners so that they can appreciate the background and capabilities of the canines in the USA Registry. Take away copies are available to the Clubs at the general meeting.

We are also working with the USA office to simplify the process and procedures to create a new Club within USA guidelines. Documents needed for this will be available in the USA website and Blog and the process will be streamlined.

We invite the membership to submit additional projects for consideration. They can either email us or use the USA Blog maintained by the GEC for this purpose. Also, if any member has an interest in joining the GEC, please do contact any one of us.

I would like to thank my fellow committee members for their hard work and creativity enabling us to execute and deliver. In particular, I would like to thank non-GEC members like Craig Groh, Sara Wallick, Sean O’Kane and Nathaniel Roque for joining our monthly calls and providing us with senior level guidance and support.

Signed

Rifky Mackeen

Chair – General Education Committee