MISSION STATEMENT:
“The Wisconsin Court Reporters Association is committed to achieving the highest level of professional standards when capturing the spoken word. Educational enrichment and technological advancement are vital in maintaining the honor and integrity of our profession while serving the public and judicial system.”
Adopted in April 2013
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
MICHELLE M. GUDEX, RDR, CRR, CRC, CRI
I am honored to serve as president of the Wisconsin Court Reporters Association. I know there will be many challenges and a lot of hard work ahead; but together with our board and members, we will move our association forward and have some fun and laughter along the way! I believe that we are #unitedinskill. We have put in years of hard work to learn and master shorthand. This unites our association and is at the core of our identity.
I entered court reporting school right after I graduated high school in the year 2000 (remember Y2K?). I graduated less than two years later in May 2002, and there was no looking back. I love steno. I love the challenge so much that I even practiced a minimum of 15 minutes every day for an entire year in Rich Germosen's practice group along with completing multiple 100-day practice challenges after that. Before Rich had a group, you would find me waking up at 6 AM to practice using cassette tapes and my old stereo, a folding chair, and my old student Stentura writer just inches from my bed ready to go to practice for the Registered Merit Reporter examination before work. I completed a bucket list item this past summer when I competed in my first national speed and realtime contests. I took 12th place in the literary portion at 220 wpm with just 20 errors, and I came close on the 280 wpm testimony. What I love about this career are the endless opportunities to improve my writing every day. My goal is to continue to write shorter and shorter.
As a young professional in 2002, I have the members of the Wisconsin Court Reporters Association to thank for guiding me throughout my career. It was Anna Casper who came to my high school typing class to introduce us to stenography and who let me intern with her at the Fond du Lac County Courthouse and introduced me to the other wonderful court reporters there. I remember seeing Ed Johnson, Terri Knowles, and Kathy Jagow helping out in many activities. I have enjoyed many conversations with Karla Sommer, Chris Willette, Mary Burzynski, and Sheri Piontek throughout my career, and I appreciate that they could lend an ear and sometimes even a hug when I needed it. This brings me to our immediate past presidents, Greta Pedersen and Meredith Seymour, who have done an amazing job continuing on the legacy of our association and planning our recent conventions.
My goals for my term include the following:
(1) Page Rate: Lobby for an increase in the official page rate structure, which has remained unchanged for decades.
(2) Membership: I remember when our conventions were packed with well over a hundred attendees. I believe we are stronger together and that all court reporters should continue to educate themselves, network with colleagues, and encourage and motivate the next generation. We are professionals and have a career to be proud of.
(3) Website: I would like to continue to update the website to make it more user-friendly and useful to both members and prospective members coming to check us out. We did succeed in at least making it mobile friendly this past year!
(4) Board Documents/Duties/Bylaws: I want to get these current for the association moving forward.
(5) Entertain the idea of Member Social Perks: Perhaps, WCRA could sponsor social opportunities for members to get together for a good cause such as a walk/run event and/or other social get-togethers around the state.
(6) Recruitment: Continue the progress that has been made with members around the state participating in career fairs to introduce students to court reporting. We have a wonderful pilot program that even offers you pay for your time spent promoting our profession!
I am honored to serve in this role, and I promise to give my best effort to complete the duties of the president. I appreciate all of you, and I can't wait to get to know you and develop more steno relationships in the next two years!