AMA Award Winners
Jerad Anderson , Volunteer of the Year By Jennifer Luiten Jerad Anderson joined the AMA Convention Committee
after relocating to Alaska in 2020. Coincidentally, our 2019 Volunteer of the Year winner, Varina Zinno, who knows good volunteers when she sees them, brought him in to help. When we began planning the planning for the 2020 conference, of course we did not know the fate of the Convention as the pandemic changed how things were done. We had cancelled the Fairbanks event in March, however, we were optimistic a November event would be possible and kept that outlook as planning events took place. A few months in advance, we became aware an in-person event would not be possible and we began to shift to a virtual convention. Keep in mind, at the time this felt like a “only once we would ever have to do this” kind of thing so we planned to make it as special as could be to fill the void once. Jerad rose to the occasion — in charge of the Core Shack and Prospector’s Tent, he researched the right platform to present content, an interactive look at core samples, and any other technical capabilities to emulate the real-life experience. He found the platforms expensive so he got to work finding sponsors and finding ways to bolster their recognition with “watermarks” on a virtual “lobby” and other types of virtual advertising. He then worked to cast a wider net to the virtual audience to make the effort worth it. His efforts paid off: for once, virtual brought benefits in-person could not with interested participants ranging from rural Alaska to Australia. He coordinated practice sessions at all hours with the new software, and ultimately, the Core Shack and Prospector’s Tent, with its different characteristics to make a different viewer experience, than the same old Zoom, were one of the most popular items of a virtual
Photo by Lee Leschper Jerad Anderson received the 2022 Volunteer of the Year Award, presented by “Zoom” Szumigala.
convention. We again picked up Convention planning in 2021….and Jerad did all of the in-person planning for the same events, only to see another cancelled event. Finally, in 2022, Jerad was able to carry thorough his vision and you will see it for yourself in person at the event. He sold out the core shack and prospector’s tent with great projects and operations participating. He brought in sponsors for a happy hour and generated all kinds of ideas to drum up attendance. And, if that did not keep him
busy enough, he also jumped in to take an active role on the Young Professionals activities at the Convention. Spearheading the Young Professionals mixer, he spent hours in the planning meetings, worked extensively to market the event to UA and vocational entities, brainstormed a program and activities, and so much more. If the above doesn’t capture the award language of “how this individual contributes personal time to ensure the success of an event,” I don’t know what does. Jerad Anderson absolutely deserves to be our volunteer of the year.
40
The Alaska Miner
Winter 2023
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker