Question for the Membership

[hans1976]

Some of the feedback the Board received was that the members don't have enough say in what the club does and our field trip is in the summer while everyone is on vacation.

So in last years election ballot we added some questions. Questions like: Should the club host MACNA - only 20% of the membership said yes, so we nixed the idea.

Another question had to deal with the annual field trip. The previous 2 yrs, we had gone to Atlantis. Did we want to try somewhere new? The options were: New England Aquarium, New York Aquarium, Atlantis, Somewhere else, none at all. With more than 40 votes, New England Aquarium won so Dave went ahead and put the trip together in the spring - when people don't have spring break or will be away on summer vacation. Now it is here and almost nobody has signed up? What has changed that people no longer want the trip?

 

[mtc1966]

just a guess but i would bet a lot of financial situations may have changed .

 

[sdheath]

I bet there are a few people who would want to go on the trip but didn't realize the deadline for signup has passed.

Anybody??

 

[hans1976]

just a guess but i would bet a lot of financial situations may have changed .

I hope that is not the case, I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

But if it is, I would hope that they would have let us know so that we would not have made the investemt in the trip (some of which is non-refundable).

 

[mikelaubach]

I for one have been many times, and although I enjoy it, it's a full day away from a busy schedule of mine. The last straw was the "lottery" for the tour of the backsides. I was not going to spend the money to go if I was not going to see the bones.

While I enjoy seeing the front sides of many aquariums, I am a hardware guy, and like to see what makes it all tick. Jeff when I was at your house, we spent far more time "behind the stairs" than we did in front of the aquarium. That would be my only reason for taking a day to go to Boston to see the aquarium. I was not willing to put up the money and go only to be disappointed that I did not get to go on the tour. Therefore, I decided to stick to school, house renovations, and everything else on my plate.

 

[renogaw]

i'm just curious... there was a deadline for i think a minimum 25 people to sign up or the trip was going to be cancelled. did 25 people sign up, not cancelling the trip, or did less than 25 people sign up and the trip still didn't get cancelled?

as i recall, many people wanted the back stage tour, but it couldn't be promised. i personally have been to the aquarium enough times that unless the backstage was offered, it wouldn't be worth my time (until my daughter is old enough).

 

[Emg2]

I would love to go, but hubby says we can't afford it.

I've never been to the NE aquarium...

 

[trstange]

I've been there and it's a great experience but we have so much going on here we have to pick and choose the days we take off.

 

[Shark Bait100]

When the trip was first announced, yes, there was going to be raffle for the Behind the Scenes Tour, but several negative comments made us reconsider this, and we added a second tour, thus pretty much guarentee CTARS Members a spot on the tour. It was sent out on the reminder thread, and the itineray for the trip was posted on the original thread, listing both Behind the Scene Tour times. I hope we can re-run this in the Fall, maybe we will get a better turn out then.

 

[BigWaz]

I wanted to go, but I sadly couldn't afford it. I can't afford to NOT work is more of the problem. With grad school coming up in a few weeks, I have to stock up on as much money as I can.

 

[hans1976]

Someone should be applying for the CTARS/MASNA Scholarship...

 

[Janina]

I would have loved to have gone but the trip is less than 2 weeks before my due date and I didn't want to spend the money when I didn't know if I would be able to attend. If rescheduled during the summer or fall, I would definitely sign up.

 

[Gobie74]

I went in the fall and now that its getting warmer out, I have to / want to be outside more.

 

[BigWaz]

There is a scholarship??!! Where is this???

 

[adunne]

http://www.masna.org/AboutMASNA/MASNAScholarship/tabid/83/Default.aspx