Thank you for allowing me the privilege over the last year to serve as your Trustee. Please trust that it’s not lip service when I state that serving as District 7 Trustee has been one of the supreme honors of my life. I’m humbled to have met so many individuals as part of my position whom I otherwise would have never known. Many of these people I now count among my close friends. That said, I’d like to take just a moment to reflect on my experience in the role that has meant so much to me.
Having now spent time with many local chapters across multiple ASDA districts, I can definitively say that there’s something special about the leaders of D7. Whether at the local, district, or national level, District 7 just shows up. D7’s members exhibit an eager willingness to serve our communities, with ASDA’s core mission and vision at the heart of their involvement. District 7, for example, comprised nearly half of all student attendees at 2022 ADA and Dental Student Lobby Day. That interest in leadership doesn’t just come from nowhere, though. I’m grateful to the D7 Presidential Council – the seven chapter presidents for D7 this year – for identifying those individuals who wish to become student advocates and leaders. Your guidance on local chapter affairs and highlighting standout student leaders has been instrumental to me throughout this year.
Service was a driving theme of my term, and on three different occasions this last year – our Officers’ Retreat, District 7 Meeting, and our District 7 Unified Day of Service – the members of District 7 engaged in community service and outreach works of some sort. That last event, Unified Day of Service, saw over one hundred fifty members engage in local service works across the communities of District 7. Especially in light of the fact that I was unable to be there on the actual Day of Service, I am incredibly proud of our Community Service Chairs and Service Committee for making this event happen.
The District 7 membership has firmly established that increasing the value and strengthening the community network among all our members are integrally important. Over the last two years alone, more than half our local chapters have created Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion positions on their officer boards. In the last year District 7 has similarly worked to expand access and member value with the creation of an Advanced Standing Representative position in addition to our DEI Chairs. An enhanced focus on student wellness and advocacy at both the chapter and district levels have served as driving forces for positive change across our district. This, in turn, strengthens the bond of friendship and collegiality that members across our chapters feel towards one another.
Perhaps nowhere could that bond be felt more strongly than at our District 7 Meeting in October 2022. Our attendees received the message loud and clear that this would be a weekend of open dialog and fostering connections, becauseeveryone showed7’s UP to chat! It was so encouraging and rewarding for our Cabinet Officers to see this event unfold from a concept to a reality that would surpass all of our expectations. If you were unable to attend, I heartily encourage you to find a way to make it to District 7 Meeting in 2023-24. I could go on for days about what it meant to see our team come together to make this event happen. Suffice it to say, to those Events Committee and all other Cabinet Officers who had a hand in D7M’s sweeping success, thank you.
In the realms of communications and membership content, District 7’s Cabinet has put itself out there on numerous occasions in the last year with groundbreaking initiatives. Our Chapter Chatter! webinar series has had nearly ten sessions, with over one-fourth of our D7 Cabinet having served as a Chat Room Leader. This town-hall-style series explored a spectrum of topics from general ASDA member benefits, wellness initiatives, and the importance of advocacy, to the ways that ASDA gives back and checking in with our industry partners. Our redesigned website has increased its membership offerings, and our blog has highlighted more members with more relevant topics than ever before. Our Member Monday, Wellness Wednesday, and other posts and storied content on our social media pages have been instrumental in keeping District 7at the forefront of our members’ social media feeds. Thank you to our Communications and Membership Teams for their ceaseless efforts to highlight our District’s members and provide useful and thought-provoking content throughout this whole year.
As you can see, my reflection of time spent as Trustee is more a happy look-back on time spent with some incredibly dedicated people who really just want to help improve the dental student experience in some small way. I’d say that they did it in a big way this year, and I couldn’t be more proud to have been a part of it. On behalf of our entire 2022-23 D7 Cabinet, thank you, ASDA District 7. It’s been a pleasure to serve you. 7’s UP!
-Judd Your Budd
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