Greetings all and welcome to 2022! I know this is February, but due to all of the website migration activities, I didn’t get a chance to publish anything in January – so this is my official “Happy New Year!” message to all members and HAS friends. I hope you all are doing well, staying safe, and enjoying any new astronomy gifts you may have received during the holidays.
January has been a busy month for those of us on the leadership team, as we’ve been heads-down and putting together our plans for the year. In mid-January, we held our annual planning meeting and passed our 2022 budget, and I’m super excited about all of the great activities we have on the schedule so far. If you haven’t checked out the events yet, please do so on our website and get those dates marked on your calendar. Personally, I’m looking forward to the Messier Marathon at the HAS dark site, our HAS get-togethers at the Texas Star Party, and our annual picnic in October.
Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t send a big “THANK YOU” to Mark Ferraz and Rene Gedaly. As many of you know, we’re migrating our website and membership database to a new platform that will better serve you for years to come, and both Mark and Rene have been working diligently to make sure this migration goes off as smoothly as it possibly can. As a person who has worked in the tech industry for nearly 30 years now, I speak from experience when I say these things are never easy or seamless, but the both of them have spent countless hours making sure this migration goes as well as it possibly can. We’re almost there, and I’m hoping that we can start processing our membership renewals for 2022 as soon as possible. The next time you see either one of them, be sure to give them a nice pat on the back for all of the great things they’ve done for us!
Lastly, I want to welcome two new members to the leadership team in 2022 – Kay McCollum and Martiel Luther. Kay joins us as a board member and as our Guidestar editor and Martiel as co-chairperson of our Membership committee. First and foremost, they bring great ideas, experience, and vision to our club, and I look forward to their contributions to the Houston Astronomical Society. But more importantly, we now have 5 women on our leadership team. While that’s more females than we’ve had on our leadership team in some time, why stop there? In a city as large and as diverse as Houston is, we’re always looking for more representation across all aspects of our society. Astronomy is for everyone, and so is the Houston Astronomical Society.
Here’s to a happy, successful, and cloud-free 2022!
