11 NOMINATING, SCHOLARSHIP & RECOGNITION COMMITTEE Submitted by Patty Companik, Chair This is my fourth year on this committee, but it has been my first year as chair. Like any other committee, until you are in the driver’s seat, you really never know how much actually goes into the job. This year’s committee members included Star Poulin, Dick Jewett, and Merritt Budd. As the committee chair, I am a strong believer in collaboration. This committee works very closely with the VAST staff (Matt Tetreault and Cindy Locke) and VAST officers (Tim Mills and Jeff Fay) during our selection process. Cyndy Jones keeps the committee current by downloading and distributing all your nominations. I would also like to thank Dave Ladd (previous committee chair) for making the transition to chair seamless for me. His support and guidance have been great to have. We start our season with the selection of two scholarship award recipients. Cameron J. Burkhardt of Newport, Rhode Island is a member of the Cavendish Green Mountain Snow Fleas. Cameron is planning to attend Vermont Tech in the fall with his major area of study in Agribusiness Management. Ally Martin of Rutland, Vermont is a member of the Tweed Valley Travelers. Ally plans to attend Vermont Technical College in the fall with her major area of study in Business Management. We received 48 nominations for 10 of the Annual Awards from our membership. With the online option, the nominations are plentiful. I believe every one of our volunteers deserves an award.You are all doing great work and contribute so much. Unfortunately, we have to make one selection per Annual Award. It is a tough job to do, with a lot of conversation between committee members. The final decision of all the award recipients is based on your nominations and the input and feedback from many others. I am very honored to say we also presented 14 Trailblazer Awards during the 2017/2018 season. These recipients have dedicated over 25 years of volunteering for the betterment of VAST. This coming season we have a few items planned, including updating the scholarship and award forms and meeting with the county trail coordinators to obtain their input and opinions regarding their county trails and clubs. The committee is also very pleased to have all four VAST officers seeking re-election this year. LONG RANGE PLANNING COMMITTEE REPORT Submitted by Mark Reaves, Chair This year, the committee’s work was focused on the second annual VAST Leadership Summit. For two days in June, VAST leadership, County Directors, Alternate Directors and County Trail Coordinators met to discuss the challenges facing snowmobiling and to begin developing solutions to address those challenges. The Summit began with an examination of the last 15 years of VAST operations. Understanding how the organization has responded to past fluctuations in snowfall, membership and revenue was instructive in determining what aspects of our current operations need refining. Among the items identified as needing to be addressed: - insuring all trails are accurately measured using GPS - insuring all trails are adequately and efficiently groomed and that grooming equipment is used to its fullest potential, - insuring resources are directed to areas that face increased ridership due to fluctuations in snowfall.