This Is What Happens When You Age Out of the Jaycees

Tonight, I was fortunate to join the Lansing Jaycees for their Year End Banquet. As is the tradition of my “second home chapter” that those who are aging out of the organization (since we’re 21 through 40 in Michigan) get to be roasted by the chapter as a way to pay tribute to their years of service.

Tonight, my friend Michelle Walk joined the group of folks who got to be roasted. There were tons of stories about the time the Michelle was Chapter President and held meetings at Potter Park Zoo, times she spent in the Lansing Haunted House, and her dedication to the Jaycee movement by helping out with projects of all kinds.

I got to share how her dedication to the organization by helping me put by serving on the 2011 MIJC Elections Committee. Having her steady hand on the committee gave me the assurance that we would have a good elections process this year. But beyond that, Michelle has given me a wonderful example of how a past president should continue to support their chapter well beyond their term of office.

You see, Michelle moved away from the Lansing area for family and work, all the way to da UP, eh. Despite the distance, she never stopped paying her dues to the Lansing Jaycees. She understood the idea that when you’re a chapter president, you don’t stop serving as a living example of what we do even after you’re done leading the crew.

Her example is something that I try to follow and share with other of my past Kalamazoo Jaycee Presidential Peeps.

Thanks, Michelle, and congratulations on your years of service in the Jaycees.