Rocketry Planet

MARION, Iowa USA — The National Association of Rocketry wants you!  To volunteer, that is.  The NAR, who only employees one part-time person who runs the national headquarters, is run entirely on a volunteer basis and is currently looking for volunteers to assist them for a number of opportunities.

Like most volunteer-run organizations, NAR usually finds itself under-staffed to accomplish all of the things that they would like to do, and often unable to accomplish many of the things members would like to see from the organization.  Were it not for the dedicated people who serve on the NAR board and committees, both nationally and locally, the organization would literally cease to exist.

To assist with the volunteer search at the national level, NAR has developed a listing of current opportunities where new volunteers can look over available openings and touch base with the correct party if interested.  If you are interested in something not on the list, you can always make suggestions to the appropriate committee chairman.

Opportunities on their list range from members of the NAR Board of Trustees, where three of the nine positions will become open for election this year to committee-level positions assisting current committee chairs.

Interested in being a Board of Trustees member?  You can nominate yourself by submitting your resume by April 15th to the NAR Secretary, George Rachor.  Once on the board, you might be interested in seeking the office of NAR Treasurer to replace Stew McNabb, who will be retiring in August of 2011.  His replacement is needed this year to begin the turnover and training process.

Looking for something a little less intensive?  Terry Moore-Read, the current NAR website administrator, is looking for someone to develop and add website content to the NAR website, doing tasks such as changing out photos or creating various directories of content.  A number of various committees also have specific volunteer-generated HTML content needs for the NAR website.

If you have a feel for international flair, John Langford is seeking assistance with his position as International Liaison, where he manages the NAR’s participation in the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) sponsored international spacemodeling competitions. Someone interested in this would need prior experience of having flown in international competition and understanding the rules and culture of the FAI, so try out for the U.S. team and attend a world championship to get started.

Everyone knows that a national organization probably gets exposed to sticky legal issues from time to time and NAR is no different.  The NAR needs someone to provide legal advice on general matters regarding the organization's operation as a non-profit entity.  In the past, the organization has found itself having to hire an attorney for each specific need.  What is desired is a pro-bono legal counsel to review documents and practices to general legal fitness.

Of the various committees that serve the NAR, there are a number of available opportunities, which includes:
 
Contest & Records Committee: Seeking someone to develop a high-power rocketry competition and records program, someone to develop an improved online resource of technical information and plans for competition events and a Regional Contest Board member for the Southland region.

Education Committee: Seeking an editor for bi-monthly newsletter sent to teachers with ideas and resources for using rocketry in grades K-12, an additional evaluator for applications submitted for the annual Cannon teacher grant and NAR student scholarship programs, someone to develop curriculum material for teachers to use in making TARC a part of a 7th through 12th grade class, and someone to update the NAR education CD ROM to a version 3.0, creating, editing, adding material and making technical improvements applicable for a mid-2010 release.

Membership Committee: Seeking a chairman. Todd Schweim, the publisher of Sport Rocketry, will provide graphics support to a chairman who comes up with the strategy to market NAR membership as a valuable and attractive product to people who already fly rockets.

NARTREK Committee: Seeking advisors to review and update the advanced skill level packets and to coach or answer questions from participants in these levels, and someone to develop and manage a new high-power NARTREK program.

NAR Technical Services (NARTS) Committee: Seeking someone to develop an enhanced NARTS webstore, someone to develop a structured online resource that makes older NARTS products available for NAR members as a free download, and someone to develop and conduct an online NARTS customer survey.

National Events Committee: Seeking event directors and supporting host sections to organize and host future NAR national events in 2010 and later (NSL, NARCON, NARAM).

Periodicals Committee: Seeking regular contributors to produce articles for Sport Rocketry on topics of broad interest to NAR members, e.g. high power construction or payload techniques, competition techniques, etc.

Public Affairs Committee: Seeking a chairman to develop and execute a national publicity plan for the NAR and for its national events to attract interested potential members and build the NAR’s public image.

Safety Committee: Seeking someone to manage an annual program to provide funding grants from the NAR to sections for the purchase of equipment that supports range safety.

Section Activities Committee: Seeking someone to develop a package of material and then serve as an advisor to support section efforts to gain access to launch sites, someone to manage the online website list of section points of contact and website addresses, someone to revise, rewrite, and update the NAR Section Manual, and finally, several people to serve as coaches and mentors to startup sections or assist people who want to start sections.

Sport Services Committee: Seeking someone to generate HTML text for the website to post updated high power certification information there, someone to review, revise, and simplify the Trained Safety Officer program, and a volunteer to help develop an NAR Contest & Records committee HPR competition program.

Standards & Testing Committee: Seeking members for a new technical evaluation subcommittee to evaluate issues not involving certification static testing.

If you feel you are interested, visit the NAR website and review the available positions and contact information for the various parties.

Website: http://www.nar.org/volunteer.html

Reader comments:

#1 Re: Article: The NAR wants you! ...to volunteer

Rancho should be Rachor.

billspad on 01-03-2009 05:17 PM

#2 Re: Article: The NAR wants you! ...to volunteer

Thanks, Bill. Sometimes, spellcheck thinks it knows more than the operator...and at times I would agree.

ddmobley on 01-03-2009 08:41 PM

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