BY: PATRICIA STUMPP
On December 17, 2020, the Circle celebrated its annual holiday get together which this year was held virtually. Hosted by Serene Su, Program Director, the event gathered together about 35 members of the Circle. Despite the limitations of the online format, the event was extremely enjoyable and collegial.
The event began with the announcement of the results of the recently held elections. Milena Savova, our current president, was reelected and will continue to serve for an additional two years. Milena mentioned how much she has enjoyed working with the current board members Matt Goldstein, Sepideh Moussavi and Natalia Postrigan as well as yours truly, the Gotham Translator editor. Milena also acknowledged with thanks the major contribution made by outgoing vice president Kate Deimling, one of the most proactive and successful VP’s in the history of the Circle.
Marcel Votlucka, the newly elected Vice President, then gave the members an overview of his very strong and diversified background which includes working as a project manager for LSP’s for 10 years before transitioning to full time translator. Marcel translates from both Japanese and Spanish into English and soon hopes to add Chinese as a third working language pairing. He is a past participant in the Circle’s mentoring program which was spearheaded by Kate Deimling. Marcel looks forward to developing new initiatives in 2021.
Milena announced that 2021 will see the introduction of the Circle’s re-designed website which is about one to two months away. The new website will include an integrated payment function, something that the current website lacks. In 2021 the Circle will move to a calendar year membership formula which will begin on January 1, 2021. The new website will have the membership renewal functionality built into it.
Serene then led a very enjoyable networking event which gave the attendees the opportunity to introduce themselves to the group. Serene suggested that the members give the attendees clues about their language pairings or their cultural backgrounds as a means of introduction. Some of the members did provide clues but others found different ways of introducing themselves, such as Maria Teresa Acosta Jacobs who sang a beautiful Venezuelan song while playing a traditional Venezuelan instrument.
The general introductory session was followed by three breakout sessions led by Milena, Marcel and Serene. The breakout sessions provided the members with the opportunity to get to know each other better and to share the challenges and achievements of 2020. It was very encouraging to hear that the general consensus was that our members continued to work and develop their careers in 2020 and that they maintain a generally positive outlook about the future.
Serene is to be congratulated on her mastery of the webex funtionalities which enabled her to provide our members with such an enjoyable and upbeat start to 2021.
