Hello friends,
It is with a true melting pot of emotions that I share the news that yesterday was my last day as an AAVSO staff member. My last day came almost exactly 20 years after my first day on the AAVSO staff. I arrived in Boston all those years ago as Janet Mattei’s newest technical assistant in a UHaul truck driven straight from my college apartment outside Atlanta, GA. So much has changed since then! I have grown. The AAVSO has grown. Even the world we live in is a very different place.
While I am excited to start a new and promising chapter in my career, it is quite strange to leave behind a place I have thought of as a second home for two decades. If the AAVSO has been my second home, then its staff and membership have been my second family. Thank you to each person I've had the privilege of interacting with over the years. Thank you to every person who makes up even the smallest part of this truly a one of a kind organization. I am so grateful for the wealth of memories and knowledge I will carry with me as my professional journey continues. As for the friendships, I plan to hold on to those too! :)
Wishing each of you the very best,
Rebecca
Rebecca,
Thank you for your past stellar performance! You leave a legacy of your own with your fingerprints on many AAVSO activities and projects. Also, kudos’s for the many great past AAVSO Spring and Fall meetings that you succeeded in pulling everything together for, inspire of the sometimes stubborn obstacles.
Good Luck with your new Journey.
Ad Astra,
Tim Crawford, CTX
Best wishes to you, Rebecca -- you'll be missed!
Gary Billings
Rebecca,
Thanks for being such an important cog ensuring the smooth running and terrific growth of the AAVSO.
Je vous souhaite plein succès dans vos activités futures.
Douglas.
Rebecca -
You will be dearly missed. Every time you entered a room, joy followed. I hope that one day you get that BIG part in a Broadway musical!
Break a leg,
- Dave Cowall
Best wishes in your future endeavors Rebecca and thank you for all that you have done for the AAVSO.
...Tim
Wow you will be missed! I really enjoyed watching you work and seeing how smooth all the meetings progressed. I wish you well!
Paul Temple
Rebecca,
I'm not a regular follower of the forums (fora?), so had not realized that you had moved on from the AAVSO. I want to thank you very much for all your hard work in organizing meetings, Citizen Sky, etc. Carolyn and I will miss seeing you at the meetings.
Dave Hurdis
Good luck Rebecca! We will miss you, but maybe sometime in the future we can tempt you back to a meeting...thanks for all of your efforts over all the years!
Kevin.
I only now saw this...sorry for the late comment.
Best wishes for your future, Rebecca!
I think you should be very proud of what you have achieved for the AAVSO. E.g. I attended the second Citizen Science Workshop in SF, and I guess everyone who attended will agree that Rebecca was crucial for making this a truly great workshop. BTW I'm quite sure it was this very event that finally convinced me I should leave industry and go into science instead when possible (which I did later when an opportunity came). So this AAVSO event actually changed my life.
Thanks Rebecca!
Rebecca
Apologies also for my late reply. I'd like to echo Bikeman's comments.
Citizen Sky was very important to me and I too ended up moving from private industry to a science-based organisation, although not until 2012.
AAVSO, Citizen Sky, Variable Star observing, VStar changed the direction of my hobby and my life during 2009/2010 and your organisation of Citizen and encouragement were an important part of that.
Thanks Rebecca! All the best for the future.
David