I have mainly been lurking on the election ship, mostly because most of the questions I have had this election are being asked by other members and answered. I did want to pop in here and endorse Sarah Hemenway and Robert Archer for the following reasons.

They are both super active. For those who aren’t familiar with some of the aspects of my job as Academy Commandant, one task I have is finding main fleet postings for graduating cadets. Rob’s ship is one of the few main fleet ships in the club where I can always place a graduating cadet (I never place graduates on ships where their CO, XO or their DH is AWOL), I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever seen any red on his roster. Sarah is the same. That’s the exact reason behind her being in command of the Challenger. When we examined our numbers of academy admissions a while ago (we do continue to evaluate them, it’s an ongoing process), we did not have the numbers to support two ships in the academy. That meant the remaining ship needed to remain extremely active (as the Personnel Department can’t place cadets if members of the senior staff are AWOL). That’s never a concern of mine, and I can confirm that I’ve never had the Pdept tell me that they can’t place cadets due to AWOLs on the Challenger roster since we’ve gone down to just the one ship. Plus, she (together with her Challenger crew) mentored one of the largest “class” of cadets I know that I’ve ever seen on the ship program…

They also are always looking for ways to get new members interested in the club. Rob always picks someone who has never been an XO before when he’s looking for one. Sarah is passionate about mentoring and about looking at our massive library and finding ways to make it more approachable to newer members, as well as encouraging new members to step into roles that they might not otherwise consider if it isn’t offered to them. This club has been around a while, and we have a lot of information to wade through and streamline, so their platform isn’t a “silver bullet” by any means, but I think it sets us up on the right course going forward. It is my honor to endorse them, and I’d like to invite everyone in STF to join me in voting for them as well.

Thanks,
Kat Dedul
Academy Commandant
CO USS Chimera
Former President and Vice President of STF
And a host of numerous other past positions, some of which I’m sure I’ve forgotten. :)